EBT at the Market Volunteers
C. Joelle Groshek
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Help low-income residents shop healthy at the farmers’ market! Wisconsin FoodShare benefits are dispensed through an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) debit card. This means that grocery stores and farmers’ markets alike require a machine to accept EBT cards. No machine means no FoodShare recipients as customers. In an effort to fight obesity and increase healthy food access, The Central Rivers Farmshed is continuing its EBT at the Farmers’ Market program. It’s a win-win program: low-income residents eat healthy and small local farmers in need of revenue expand their market base. And we need volunteers committed to the causes of local food, obesity prevention, and community health to help us run the program.
Position Expectations:
- Setting up, manning, and tearing down Farmshed’s EBT stand at the Saturday market (in either Rapids or Stevens Point or both! But not on the same day.)
- Swipe FoodShare recipients’ EBT cards and dispense wooden EBT tokens to recipients
- During and at the end of market, pay out real dollars to farmers in exchange for their wooden tokens (think of yourself as the market EBT bank, but it will be easier and more important than playing Monopoly).
- Registering new farmers for the EBT program
- One weekend a month will also require some special attention to bookkeeping as we will be running our Double Value days, in which we match FoodShare recipients’ FoodShare swipe up to $10
- Providing hands-on assistance for our Chef on the Square ActivitiesYou may also be asked to assist in Chef on the Square activities or other programming happening at the market. A full schedule will be developed before the start of market. If this sounds like a lot of responsibility, don’t worry. You’ll receive training and Farmshed will provide staff to manage Double Value days.
Time Commitment: One to two Saturdays a month (7:30am-2:30pm for SP; 7:30am-12:30pm for WR) from mid-June through October AND one group training session in late May or early June. Click the links below for market days.
Contact: Please contact Joelle Groshek at 715-630-2373 or at joe...@farmshed.org if you would like to become an EBT Volunteer or if you would like more information.
C. Joelle Groshek