Poor seniors get vouchers to use at farmers markets

Tue., July 7, 2015

By Erica Curless ericac@spokesman.com (509) 459-5439

The red, plump cherries and picked-that-morning raspberries thrilled Gail Purcell, whose budget doesn’t usually allow for fresh fruit, especially from a farmers market.

Purcell, 71, is one of the 1,405 low-income seniors to receive $40 in vouchers to use at participating farmers markets in Spokane County as part of the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program designed to improve the nutritional health of poor seniors.

Purcell got her coupons in the mail on a Wednesday and by Friday she was filling her basket at the Hillyard Farmers Market.

“Oh they are really delicious,” Purcell said about the cherries, a special treat she’s not really supposed to eat because of her diabetes. She also bought zucchini but is waiting to buy cucumbers until they are bigger.

Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington contracts with Catholic Charities Food for All to distribute the farmers market vouchers. The aging service also offers the farmers market program in Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille and Whitman counties.

This spring the Spokane program received 1,700 requests. In June, 1,405 names including Purcell’s, were picked in a drawing. The remaining 295 people were put on a waiting list.

Jesse Hansen of Catholic Charities Food for All said that it appears funding will allow some of those seniors to receive vouchers.

Seniors can spend the vouchers on fresh fruits, vegetables and honey at markets in Airway Heights, Cheney, Deer Park, Emerson-Garfield, Hillyard, Liberty Lake, Milwood, South Perry, Spokane and West Central.

Purcell knew nothing about the program until the vouchers arrived in the mail. Tatyana Tisdale, the service coordinator at Winchester Court, signed up her residents at the 119-unit subsidized senior apartment complex.

“I’m just trying to help my tenants,” Tisdale said. “They are thrilled and excited to get some fresh produce.”

For more information, contact Jesse Hansen at (509) 459-6163 or jhansen@ccspokane.org. View more at www.altcew.org/2014-senior- farmers-market-nutrition-program/.