About 200 seniors on waitlist for farmers market vouchers in Allegheny County

CBS News

3 days ago

About 200 seniors on waitlist for farmers market vouchers in Allegheny County
About 200 seniors on waitlist for farmers market vouchers in Allegheny County
About 200 seniors on waitlist for farmers market vouchers in Allegheny County
About 200 seniors are on a waitlist for the Farmers Market Nutrition Program in Allegheny County.
On Tuesday, hundreds of seniors received vouchers while hundreds of others were turned away. Several senior centers ran out of vouchers on Tuesday, including the Allentown Senior Citizen Center, where Dolores Stromberg volunteers.
"You can't go nowhere else to get anything. They're done," Stromberg said.
The state received 18,000 vouchers this year compared to 22,000 last year due to federal cuts. The voucher amount was also reduced.
"Fifty dollars got us through most of the summer with vegetables, $25 is not even going to get us halfway through," Stromberg said.
According to the Allegheny County Area Agency on Aging, there are 2,000 sets of vouchers that remain.
A spokesperson wrote in part, "We will promptly be distributing them to all the seniors who submit a waitlist application as well as to any older adults who submit an application because they were not available to attend the in-person distribution."
"Next year, I hope that everybody gets vouchers, everybody gets what they deserve because people are earning it, people worked for it, people deserve it," Stromberg said.
"Do you think the voucher amount should go up?" KDKA-TV's Mamie Bah asked Stromberg
"Yes I do, yes I do. Shame on them, shame on them, that's all I gotta say," Stromberg said.
The deadline to submit your waitlist application is Sept. 15. The last vouchers go out at the end of that month.