NW Michigan Food and Farming Network Report to the Community 2015 Report to the Community | Page 53

2015 Report to the community

Serving Families, Farmers
and Local Economies
Program doubles funds
for local fruits, veggies
By Diane Conners
Michigan Land Use Institute
Nearly 6,400 transactions add up.
That’s how many times families
with low incomes in our region
spent federal and nonprofit food
assistance dollars on locally grown
food at farmers markets since 2011,
according to the latest data from the
innovative “Double Up Food Bucks”
program.
In all, customers who qualify
for the SNAP Bridge Card (food
stamps) spent nearly $260,000
with regional farmers; and a 2008
study in Seattle indicates that a
dollar spent at a farmers market can
generate $2.80 for a community’s
economy. So “Double Up” may have
meant close to $750,000 for our
region’s economy, along with healthy
food on families’ tables.
“Double Up Food Bucks is a blessing,” according to Kathie Maldonado, a Traverse City resident who
found herself laid off for three years
and needing food assistance for the
first time in her life.
Double Up, operated by the national nonprofit Fair Food Network
in Ann Arbor, doubles the money of
customers when they use their SNAP
Bridge Card to buy Michigan grown
food at farmers markets. The Bridge
Card can be used to buy anything it
can buy in a grocery store, including milk, eggs, meat, fish—and even

Kathie Maldonado
was able to double
her SNAP Bridge
Card assistance
with Double Up Food
Bucks a Ёѡ