Double Your Fresh Food Access with VINES’ New Double Up Food Bucks Initiative

According to the report of Bing Hamton Home Page, in a great effort to help local communities VINES has started a new program to give free fresh produce to people who use SNAP benefits. Partnering with the Field and Fork Network, VINES has launched the ‘Double Up Food Bucks’ initiative. This program lets SNAP recipients buy a weekly box of vegetables through VINES’ food share initiative and get another box for free doubling their food supply.

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Program Doubles Food Purchasing Power for SNAP Beneficiaries

The program is funded by Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo and makes sure all the produce comes from local farms in Broome County. Lupardo said, “It’s amazing to see this program here, where we can double the food purchasing power of SNAP beneficiaries. For every box of food share they get, they’ll receive one free. And this isn’t just any old box of food and this is food grown with love and care.” The program currently gives out about 300 boxes each week at 14 distribution sites, providing a variety of fresh vegetables to subscribers.

By making these farm share boxes more affordable and the program helps SNAP recipients and supports local farmers by bringing in new customers who might not have been able to join before. This helps build a stronger community food system. For more information or to sign up for the farm share program, people can visit VinesGardens.org.

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