Missouri Jayne, 3, surveys the food plate her mom put on the kitchen table in front of her. It’s after-school snack time in the Reynolds’ Ludlow, Kentucky, home. She scoops a spoonful of yogurt, then reaches for some fresh walnuts.
Missouri and her mom, Allison Reynolds, are among millions of moms and kids – including hundreds of thousands in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana – who take part every month in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Women, Infants and Children Special Supplemental Nutrition Program.
The program is for low-income pregnant and post-partum people, infants and children through age 4 who are at nutritional risk. It provides nutritious foods, including fruits and vegetables, baby cereal and wholegrain foods, canned fish and eggs, soy-based beverages and, when needed, special infant formulas and medical foods.
The average monthly food benefit for each participant in fiscal year 2022 in Ohio was $43.40, according to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. In Kentucky, the average was $43.05, and in Indiana, $39.64.