5/16/2023
Food Assistance Information Fair
Opening day is June 1, and we’ll have our second Food Assistance Information Fair. The main goal is to help people understand what benefits are available and how to sign up for them. But we also want the community to understand that food insecurity is a problem everywhere.
Participants will discuss a wide range of available benefits. We expect to have representatives from the Mass. Department of Transitional Assistance, the Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources, Cambridge Health Alliance, Project Bread, Springwell, Belmont Council on Aging, Belmont Helps, and the Belmont Food Pantry.
See BelmontFarmersMarket.org/food-assistance for more about our programs, or stop at the Manager’s Tent at the Market.
Matching benefits
We double SNAP benefits (Food Stamps) up to a weekly total of $25.
We also double FMNP coupons (Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program) for WIC families and eligible seniors. These are distributed by towns or social service agencies during the summer.
Instant rebates on produce through the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP)
Four of our farmers participate in the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), which provides instant rebates on produce to people who pay with SNAP. Shoppers must have the transaction amount in their SNAP account, but it’s immediately refunded, up these monthly amounts:
- 1–2 people in the household: $40 per month
- 3–5 people: $60 per month
- 6 or more: $80 per month
Our handouts about HIP & SNAP
The attached flyer describes how HIP, SNAP & FMNP work at the Belmont Farmers’ Market, and has an overview of programs at some nearby markets.
We also have brief flyers available in Chinese, Spanish and Russian. See BelmontFarmersMarket.org/food-assistance for all of these.
Schedule
The Belmont Farmers’ Market is open on Thursdays, from 2:00 – 6:30pm from June 1 through October 26, 2023 (closing at 6:00 in October). The Market operates at the back of the Belmont Center parking lot; use 10 Claflin St, Belmont, MA 02478 in your GPS.
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