WIC rates up in county

A record 1,808 people took advantage of the federal government’s nutrition program for low-income women and young children last month, Pettis County Community Health Center officials said Thursday.

“We’re at an all-time high,” said Mary Lou Shane, Women Infant Children coordinator and nutritionist for the Pettis County Community Health Center. “Sometimes it’s hard to get people in pretty quickly, but we seem to be managing okay.”

On average, the Pettis County WIC program serves about 1,600 people per month, but that number jumped by 208 in October. Shane said the general increase in grocery prices is to blame for the increased traffic at the WIC office. The program provides vouchers to pregnant and nursing women and their babies and children to age 5 for certain foods.

“The price of milk and eggs have gone up. Gasoline prices have gone up. Everyone’s budget is a little tighter,” she said.

Bob Preston, store manager for Woods Supermarket, said WIC volume is up considerably at his store, but that it’s hard to tell how much of the WIC voucher increase is because of Price Chopper closing in August.

During the holidays, weather and travel usually make for less volume at the WIC office, Shane said, but she hasn’t “seen any slow down so far.”

Pettis County is following a statewide trend of increasing clients, with about 141,500 served in Missouri in October.

The Pettis County WIC program runs on a budget of $221,000 per year, with the fiscal year from October to September. “If we serve above our caseload, a lot of times we’ll get reimbursed at the end of the year,” Shane said.

Despite the increased caseloads, the program has not cut services, said Glen Studebaker, WIC communications and planning coordinator in Jefferson City. But if the record numbers continue, that could change.

“WIC does operate on a limited budget, and if participation and costs continue to rise, more money would have to be appropriated by the federal government or we would have to institute waiting lists for the program,” he said. “We hope that never happens.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.