Putnam and Baldwin are among 13 Georgia counties that became eligible Sept. 12, for the North Central Health District’s (NCHD) Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program’s new Georgia eWIC (electronic WIC) system. eWIC is an electronic system for issuing WIC benefits loaded onto an eWIC card that will function like a debit card. Instead of WIC paper vouchers, participants will use eWIC cards to obtain WIC-approved foods from authorized eWIC retailers.
Georgia WIC is a federally funded special supplemental nutrition program that provides nutrition education, breastfeeding education and support, referrals and nutritional supplements to income-eligible families across Georgia. Income-eligible families include pregnant women, breastfeeding women, postpartum women, and infants and children up to age five. Custodial/single fathers, legal guardians and foster parents of an infant or child also can receive WIC benefits for the eligible infant or child.
“We’re very excited to be able to make it easier for our WIC participants to use their benefits when shopping,” NCHD Nutrition Service Director Nancy Jeffery said. “After seeing how successful eWIC has been in the area that served as a program pilot for Georgia, we’re ready to begin using this new and improved system.”
NCHD’s WIC program is part of Wave 2 of the statewide rollout of the Georgia eWIC program. In addition to those in Baldwin and Putnam Counties, eligible recipients in Crawford, Hancock, Houston, Jasper, Jones, Macon-Bibb, Monroe, Peach, Twiggs, Washington, and Wilkinson will soon begin receiving the new eWIC cards.
Statewide adoption of the eWIC program is expected to be completed by the end of October, but as part of the phased approach to the eWIC rollout, WIC participants should continue to use their paper vouchers until they receive their eWIC card. Once participants have the eWIC card, they will be able to use it to purchase WIC-approved foods.
“We’re looking forward to the point when all of our WIC participants have their eWIC cards in hand and ready to use,” Jeffery said. “It will take some time to get the new eWIC cards to participants, and we appreciate their patience and understanding during this process. Our staff are working to ensure everything transitions with as few issues as possible.”
For more information about NCHD’s WIC program, including eligibility to apply for WIC and WIC-approved products, visit NCHD52.org/WIC. To learn about the statewide WIC program, visit dph.georgia.gov/WIC. – Contributed