Activists push support for Foodlink, call for WIC funding

Activists push support for Foodlink food bank by calling for WIC funding

By Rachel Niemi Rochester

PUBLISHED 5:10 PM ET Nov. 20, 2023 PUBLISHED 5:10 PM EST Nov. 20, 2023

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stopped in Rochester to push for support for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) on Monday.

During his stop at the Foodlink food bank, Schumer toured the first WIC-eligible curbside market in the country.

Today, I stood with families preparing for Thanksgiving at Foodlink—a food bank in Rochester.

Without more funding for WIC, moms and kids could be turned away from this vital program next year.

I’m working to fund WIC and make sure families get the support they need. pic.twitter.com/W6Bf8AQsGF
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 21, 2023

More than 20,000 families in the Finger Lakes area rely on WIC for fresh and healthy food.

“Folks like myself have been working really hard to increase recent work enrollment, participation and retention rates," Foodlink benefit navigation coordinator Whitley Hasty said. "But because of successes backed by solid science, right now is no time for us as a nation to give up on the principle that food is medicine.”

Many food banks are already stretched thin from the holiday season and activists say WIC funding running out could cause a major strain.