Northbrook Farmers Market SNAP program nearly out of funds
It's another successful season at the Northbrook Farmers Market.
In one specific area, it's been a little too successful.
With eight of the season's 18 weekly markets having taken place by Aug. 5, $3,100 of the market's $5,000 fund earmarked for its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) had already been exhausted.
"You can see by the math we're not going to make it to the end of the season if that pace keeps up, and we're giving more away each week than the week before, so the pace is accelerating," said Northbrook Farmers Market Association president and manager Dale Duda.
Overall Duda said that despite people needing to comply with new rules regarding the COVID-19 pandemic while attending the market at the Meadow Shopping Plaza at Cherry Lane and Meadow Road, more people arrive by the week. Many of them Duda hasn't seen before, and she's been with the market since its inception 12 years ago.
The Northbrook Farmers Market accepts SNAP benefits - a federal program administered through the Illinois Department of Human Services - and doubles the value up to $25 per day per family.
Duda said she "absolutely" has noted an increase in people using the market's double-value program. On Aug. 5 the tab was $615 in "free money," she said.
Since the market started participating in the program in 2011 it has contributed more than $35,000 to Link card holders. Each of the last two years the amount was a little over $5,000, Duda said.
"I say it's not a 'program,' it's a commitment to have this available, but we feel very strongly that people who have less income should still be able to shop at the Farmers Market," she said. "I've always felt this way, that they should have the same pleasure to shop at an outdoor market. We make that possible."
Other than verifying the information on a Link card, no information on the card holder is recorded, such as town of residence.
"We don't need that information to run the program," Duda said.
Both the funds removed from a customer's SNAP account and the Farmers Market's matching amount are converted to poker chips the customer can give to a market vendor. Purple chips represent the customer's SNAP withdrawal, yellow chips signify the matching funds, Duda said. She's noticed some people hoarding the purple chips, which she attributes to tough pandemic times.
While the market has regular customers who participate in the program, they are a "handful," she said. This year's influx of new SNAP customers does not fit either a pandemic or a regular profile.
"These are not young people that are working, who are coming week after week. These are older people who absolutely would not be employed," Duda said.
While she would hate to end the matching program should the coffers be empty, Duda is loathe to return to the market's 2020 sponsors - Lewis Floor & Home, Northbrook Pet Nannies, NorthShore University HealthSystem and The Spaniak Team/eXp Realty - to ask for more money.
"Because of the pandemic, I absolutely do not feel comfortable going back to the same sponsors or finding new people at this late date. Everybody's hurting," Duda said.
"They've been very generous in the past and to hit them up again, I just don't want to do that. So, it's the proverbial rock and a hard place."