Healthy and Affordable Living with Local Farmers Markets

This past March, the Suburban Washington Resettlement Center’s (SWRC) Health Promotion and Outreach program collaborated with FreshFarm Market of Washington D.C. and Crossroads Farmers Market of Takoma Park, MD for a healthy and affordable eating initiative. They presented information about food assistance programs during two of the nutrition education workshops on seasonal fruits and vegetables. 

Both markets offer generous food assistance programs, which aim to help low income individuals and families purchase more local fresh fruits and vegetables.  Customers receive incentives for purchasing items at these markets with their food stamps (SNAP), Women Infants and Children’s program (WIC) and Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) checks.  These incentives include extra food tokens or coupons, which can be used to purchase more fresh local produce and other food items at their markets.

Through this exciting collaboration, SWRC clients were able to learn about the benefits of eating local seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as where they can access different farmers markets in the Suburban Washington area.  The IRC Silver Spring Health Team hopes to partner with these organizations again in the future to provide further nutritional education for SWRC refugee and asylee clients. 

If you are interested in learning more about these organizations and their food assistance programs, please visit their websites listed below.

FreshFarm Markets: http://www.freshfarmmarket.org/
Crossroads Market: http://thecrossroadsfarmersmarket.org/