'Harvest Boxes': Grocers fear for business, patrons' health
Source: Associated Press
Harvest Boxes: Grocers fear for business, patrons health
By KRISTEN de GROOT and GENE PUSKAR
1 hour ago
RANKIN, Pa. (AP) Finding fresh food in this tiny riverside community that was hit hard by the steel industrys decline has always been a challenge. Then, seven years ago, Carls Cafe opened.
The grocery store, near new government housing, offers cooking classes and a source of fresh, healthy food. Proprietor Carl Lewis even has customers sign a pledge: If he provides fresh produce, theyll buy it. Five such purchases, and they get their sixth free.
About half his customers pay with benefits from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, so the governments proposal to replace the debit card-type program with a pre-assembled box of shelf-stable goods delivered to recipients worries him and other grocery operators in poor areas about their patrons nutrition, and their own bottom line.
If half of your business goes away, its going to hurt, Lewis said, noting that if SNAP spending benefits are taken away, so will recipients ability to participate in programs at his store.
I see kids educating parents on fresh food choices, he said. To see them reach for an apple before they reach for a Snickers bar, its fantastic. But if people are too worried about where their next meal is coming from, its going to be hard to teach them how to cook an eggplant.
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