SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Families in need throughout California can now get extra free money for fresh food, including those shopping at the Florin Road Farmers Market.
“Every week I come here. Every Thursday,” said Mohammad Ashrif, who was in line for CalFresh benefits, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). “I have seven members in my family — five kids — so I need a lot of things to buy.”
People in the CalFresh program get a certain amount of money per month for groceries, which they can spend at a store or any participating farmers market throughout the state, getting market dollars to spend at the booths of local farmers.
But now through the end of the year, CalFresh customers can get an additional $15 at each market. Spend 15 CalFresh dollars, get 15 free through Market Match.
“It’s a great opportunity for all the families,” said Ashrif.
Sam Greenlee is executive director of Alchemist CDC, the nonprofit that runs the CalFresh booths at eight farmers markets in Sacramento County.
“The beauty of Market Match and the way it gets people out to the farmers market is for people who are food-insecure or low-income, it stretches their grocery budget,” said Greenlee.
Every Thursday, some 500 CalFresh customers come to this Florin Road Farmers Market.
Alchemist CDC program assistant Nathan Dao says, he’d like to see all of those people get the extra $15.
“Just because the cost of living has been rising and other things like that, they’ve been really appreciative because now they can get more produce for their money, basically,” said Dao.
The cap is a $15 match per visit, but people can get that extra benefit several times per month, as long as they can match it with their remaining monthly CalFresh funds.
“If they come out each week, that $15 turns into $60 in a month, so that’s extra money going in for nutritious, local produce and it’s supporting California’s small farmers, who are the most likely to be at a farmers market,” said Greenlee.
Last year, through CalFresh EBT and Market Match, Alchemist CDC distributed $1 million to local farmers across eight markets, Greenlee said.
Market Match is a program for CalFresh EBT customers at participating farmers markets statewide. The extra Market Match dollars can only be spent on fresh fruits and vegetables.
For a map of participating farmers markets, click HERE.
