senior-spectrum.com

Seniors’ Farmers Market Coupons on Hold Until Budget Passes

By Daniel Dullum
Spectrum staff writer

For the third consecutive year, Area 4 Agency for Aging is offering its popular Farmers Market coupon booklets, which will soon leave the print shop and be ready for distribution.

Just as soon as the governor and state Legislature pass a budget.

“It’s like that everywhere,” said A4AA dietician Lila Shelton. “The seniors always look forward to it, they call us, wondering when the coupons will be out.”

The quick answer is that until a budget is passed, Area 4 can’t get the coupons to the congregate dining sites throughout Sacramento, Nevada, Placer, Yolo and Yuba counties.

“They’re at the printers right now,” Shelton explained, “... then [the coupons] will be sent to me and they will have to stay here until the budget passes. Then I will try to distribute them as soon as I can, within a week or two.”

Once Shelton gets the green light, the coupon booklets will be distributed to meal providers, who in turn will distribute them to seniors age 60 and older at their congregate meal sites.

“There’s never enough coupons!” Shelton said. “I don’t know how many we’ll be getting this year because the funding just hasn’t allowed [the printer] to print as many as we’d like. It depends on where the needs are in California, as well. Like, L.A. and San Francisco, there’s a high demand, more so than other areas.“

The Farmers Market coupon program started as a pilot project for Area 4 in 2001, and has grown in popularity. Seniors receive booklets containing $20 worth of coupons (each coupon is valued at $1 or $2), redeemable at sanctioned Farmers Market sites.

“It’s kind of a win-win situation for the farmers as well as for the senior citizens. It gives them a chance to get out and socialize, get some fresh fruits and vegetables,” Shelton said. “For example, if they see the peaches and they want to buy them, they turn in a coupon. It’s not a food stamp thing, but it’s similar. Say, if the peaches cost $1.60, they would turn in $2 with no change given.”

No statistics are available on how many seniors take advantage of the program, Shelton said, primarily because it has been a pilot project.

“What we do know is that the Department of Aging is going to be trying to monitor and track that a little bit closer, county by county. Since it’s a new program, they can’t do everything at once. We’re going to try and follow that a little closer.”

The only criteria to qualify for the coupons is to be age 60 or older. The coupons will not be distributed individually through A4AA and must be picked up in person at congregate meal sites.

If a person who receives home-delivered meals is interested, a family member who is 60 or older can go to a congregate site and get coupons, Shelton said.

Although the budget delay is causing some problems, Shelton noted that the coupons are good until Nov. 30, so the program still will be useful.

“Items like apricots or cherries are soon out of season, but other things are coming in,” Shelton said. “We know the seniors look forward to getting these coupons. We’ll get them out as soon as they can.”