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One mission of the Curbside Market, aside from providing healthy food at affordable prices, is to seek out those with SNAP benefits and educate them about the program.
In seeking out new sites to host the program — and there are now more than 80 in the regular rotation — one building on Westfall Road makes perfect sense. The Monroe County Department of Human Services, where many residents go to apply for and receive SNAP benefits, will soon host the Curbside Market in its parking lot on a regular basis.
News coverage: Foodlink Curbside Market coming to county DHS offices on Westfall Rd. (WHEC)
“By regularly hosting Foodlink’s mobile market at our central DHS campus, we can help make fresh, healthy, affordable foods accessible to local families who need it most,” Monre County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo said in a statement.
The county and several Foodlink staff members made the announcement at the DHS campus on Sept. 20 in conjunction with Hunger Action Month.
Curbside customers who frequent the Curbside Market are not only eating healthier, they’re stretching their food budgets through the Double Up Food Bucks program. For every dollar spent (up to $10) at the market, customers will get an extra dollar in return to purchase more fresh produce.
“Your health is everything,” Dinolfo said Wednesday. “Health is the foundation — the key to success in this community. We want to make sure that when our kids go to school, they’re not hungry. That when our families come home, there’s food on the table. We want to make sure that our families have the ability to put their best foot forward, and having fresh, healthy food is certainly a key component to that. We can’t do this alone, and we have to make sure that we identify great community partners, like Foodlink, to get the job done.”
Foodlink and Monroe County are working out the logistics of the optimal day and time to host the program, and the partnership will be up and running this fall.
A clip from today’s announcement w/ @CherylDinolfo that the @CurbsideMarket will soon stop at the Dept of Human Services at 111 Westfall Rd. pic.twitter.com/T4XubMMIP9
— Foodlink (@FoodlinkNY) September 21, 2017