Every day we have women who come to us with nowhere else to go, and if it weren’t for the Title X family planning program or WIC, there would be a lot of people who would not be as healthy as they are. The WIC program we have in two counties benefits the nutrition of children up to age five and nursing mothers because we’ll give them access to nutritious food and formula, if they need it, while monitoring their developmental progress.

We had an incident the other day where a baby was not fed because the mother ran out of formula. When she came in to get her vouchers, looking exhausted with the crying baby, they were both seen by the nutritionist. They immediately received formula so that the mother could start feeding the baby – a very, very young at-risk preemie. What would happen if there were no WIC vouchers?

So that’s what we do, and every day we see people like this who are desperate and in need and we’re able to help.

It’s about helping people and changing lives. It’s about getting them back on track to a point where they don’t need assistance anymore, and we’re pretty successful at doing that.

When Missourians have access to enough nutritious food, they have the fuel they need to grow up strong, attend school prepared to learn, go to their jobs ready to be productive, and maintain their health as they age. When we look out for one another, we all see #TheNetBenefit. Learn more about access to food in Missouri.