Resources:
Lee Van Roth's Feature Article: Ypsi Farmers Market to continue food assistance program launched during government shutdown
Ypsilanti Farmers Market SNAP & Food Access Programs
Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. After the 43-day federal government shutdown briefly cut off Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, support for thousands of Washtenaw County households, the Ypsilanti Farmers Market moved fast to ensure people didn't lose access to fresh local foods. While the state of emergency has passed, SNAP Gap will continue through the winter season, supporting both local families and local farmers during a time when food access matters more than ever. With me today to talk about how this emergency initiative came together so quickly, how the community responded, and what the program could look like a little further down the line is Ypsilanti Farmers Market Manager Claire Austin. Hi, Claire! Thanks for being here today!
Claire Austin: Hi, Lee! Thanks so much for having me! That was a wonderful introduction! Oh, my goodness!
Lee Van Roth: Thank you! Well, let's start with this moment where the SNAP Gap program was created when the shutdown hit and people went to bed with benefits and then woke up without them. What did those first 24r hours look like for you and the team at the Farmers Market and with nonprofit Growing Hope?
Claire Austin: Yeah. Well, I think always in moments of instability, there's going to be a small moment of panic. And then, we just immediately came together. We were like, "Okay, the winter market is getting ready to come up. People's SNAP benefits are not renewing. What do we do?" Because people still need to buy food. We can't just go the entire month of November without having access to food. So, honestly, we sat down, we looked at what programs we were already getting ready to do in 2026 and we said, "Okay. Well, some of this stuff has to move up. If we have money to give out, we need to give it out now. We don't need to wait until next year." So, we just all sat down and said, "Okay, how many people with SNAP come to our farmers markets? How much do they usually spend? How much can we supplement? How much money do we have in the bank?" And then just honestly, we wrote this all up in almost less than 24 hours and got it ready to go, so that we could meet people on November 1st when they were waking up without their benefits. So, yeah, that's kind of a little bit of what it looked like. It was a a team thing where we just really came together in the moment.
Lee Van Roth: Was that sort of quick thinking and collaboration...was that something that had you experienced before in other times of instability? You know, was this just worked out in the moment to come together as quickly as you did this time?
Claire Austin: Yeah, I mean, maybe a little bit of both to your question. I mean, with working in just food access in general, you have to be ready to pivot like at a moment's notice. The government could be doing anything, and you have to step up and step in for community when they need you the most. Yes, we're here every weekend, and we're offering more food access. But being able to actually step up and support the community when they're saying, "Hey we need you," yeah, you just have to be able to pivot when they call on you. So, that was just a really huge moment, I think, for us. We're used to kind of like always on the go doing things and being able to just have the space to say, "Whoa! We have a huge emergency! Everybody shift gears! Do this thing! Let's go," especially at the tail end of the season when the growing is slowing down, it's getting colder outside, and there's less and less produce. So, being able to just meet that need right now when people need us, it was great!
Lee Van Roth: And I know that the Farmers Market has now transitioned into the winter indoor market for folks to still take advantage of. How how are shoppers responding?
Claire Austin: I mean, oh, they came! They came! So far, it's been a huge success, I would say. We've had the winter market open for three weeks now. And all three weeks, we have sold out, at least of all the edible things here in the market. So, that's great for me to see. My bakers selling out, I've got several farmers selling out, and this is really huge because, again, we are at the end of the season where they're just trying to make sure that they sell the rest of it, so they can put the farms to rest for the season. And so, to be able to have customers who are coming in and not just like getting a little bit, but getting a lot, getting more food than they would have been able to get, even in the summer season in some cases, that's really huge! Not even just for our customers who are coming in and being able to stock up for the winter, but our farmers and our bakers are not stressing about what's going to happen next year because their people are here. They're able to access the food. So, there's been some very heartwarming moments at the market where I'm listening to my community say, like, "Wow! I didn't know how I was going to get through the winter, but now I'm stocked. I've got all the things I had because I had this access." And I'm talking to my farmers, and they're saying like, "This makes the difference because that means next year I can actually grow more. Like, I didn't think I was going to sell all this garlic. And now, I'm out of garlic!" Honestly, it's just really beautiful to see.
Lee Van Roth: Now that we're at this point where it is SNAP Gap is a program that is successful and people seem to be appreciating it, is this something that we could see potentially be long-term from the Farmers Market?
Claire Austin: You know, that's a great question. I'm going to be honest. Yes, if someone gives us a million dollars, it will last forever. So right now, we've gone through November. We do have enough to support the program through December, and right now, we're just kind of evaluating month to month--how much are we giving out, how much is actually being redeemed. So right now, we know we're at least going to go through Christmas. And then, in January, we'll decide if that's the same amount, if we continue, if we lower it and continue. So, we are evaluating as we go, and as we continue to get the word out, because the more supporters that we have, the longer that we could absolutely run this program. It just kind of depends.
Lee Van Roth: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with Ypsilanti Farmers Market Manager Claire Austin about their SNAP Gap initiative, which got started at the beginning of November. So, Claire, obviously, programs like this, we need money to put into them to make them work and to keep them going. If that became the case where the Farmers Market did have the appropriate funding and resources to continue offering this program, do you have an idea in mind of what it could look like?
Claire Austin: No, I mean I think it would pretty much run exactly like it's coming. You would come up to, the Farmers Market booth and ask for your tokens. And then, they would put you through our little survey, our food access survey, and then, you just get your bonus bucks to go and shop through the market. In a perfect world, this program would run all the time, just so that we're always reducing that barrier and giving people access into the market. I would love to see that! I would love that! That's my dream!
Lee Van Roth: And I know that you and the team at the Farmers Market, when devising this program and thinking of how it was going to work, we were also looking at the Double Up Food Bucks program that is a statewide program for folks on SNAP. And it sounds like there was some kind of attempt or at least advertising for folks to kind of use these two resources in tandem with one another. So, I'm curious about if there are other resources locally or otherwise that you could see SNAP Gap kind of partnering up with in the future as well.
Claire Austin: Oh, that is a difficult question. Yes, I mean, there's absolutely opportunity to partner with other local farmers and other farm stops to be able to even just accept SNAP Gap because the Farmers Market isn't open 24-7, but being able to partner with other orgs would be amazing. Nothing that we have ready to go just yet, I'll say that. Nothing just yet. Because they did move very quickly just so that we were able to meet people. But, I mean, because of its success, we are having those conversations. So, you never know what you might see next year.
Lee Van Roth: And stepping back a bit and looking at the larger picture, and you had mentioned this as well, how the Ypsi Farmers Market's entire goal is about food equity, food accessibility, ensuring that folks have access to high-quality healthy foods while also supporting the folks that bring those high-quality healthy foods out to the market. And I'm curious about how, SNAP Gap kind of just overall fits into and reflects that mission.
Claire Austin: We have seen firsthand how even just a short interruption to your benefits can just like destabilize your whole household, right? A lot of the people that we see--healthy food is not just an option. Like, it's not optional. It is essential for their well-being. So, not having access to something....we always say here food is medicine. So, not having access to your medicine would be detrimental to your health, right? And then, at the same time, we know that we see a lot of families and a lot of young families with young children and having to watch them choose between their basic needs and having to eat. That was something that was deeply upsetting for everybody here at Growing Hope because food access is what we do, right? And then, there's also the growers' aspect of it. We want our farmers to be able to sell the things that they worked so hard to grow and bring here. We're always asking them to bring their food and invest here into a healthy community. And we want to be able to support them in that way. So really, it's the whole system that we're looking at that was in crisis, and we were hoping and created this program to kind of meet that need to support our people, to support our community, to support our growers and make sure that we're all healthy in times of instability like we're in right now.
Lee Van Roth: Well, Claire, thank you so much for joining me here today and for sharing how this program is really meeting the moment for families here in Ypsi. I know I'm a big fan of the Farmers Market, and I'm always excited to see what's coming out from you guys. So, thank you for sharing with us today!
Claire Austin: Yeah, absolutely! Thanks for having me!
Lee Van Roth: For more on today's conversation and a link to the full article, visit our website at WEMU dot org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting at Eastern Michigan University!
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