Question: My son heard about a program for seniors to get coupons for fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets but couldn’t recall the details. I certainly could benefit from such a program. Can you supply any information? I live in Honolulu.
Answer: Yes. The Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program is a federal grant program that subsidizes the cost of fresh fruits, vegetables, honey and fresh-cut herbs for senior citizens who shop at farmers markets, roadside stands and community-supported agriculture programs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Hawaii is among the states, territories and federally recognized tribal organizations where the program is funded. It operates only a few months a year (harvest season) and has yet to resume for 2016.
Last year on Oahu the program was administered by the Hawaii Foodbank, the agency you should contact to find out whether you are eligible for this program and others that supplement nutrition for low-income seniors. Call the Foodbank’s senior-citizen hotline at 954-7889, or call the main number at 836-3600 and enter extension 238.
In a nutshell: SFMNP provides a voucher booklet for eligible seniors to spend at farmers markets during a set harvest period. In past years on Oahu the booklet has contained 10 vouchers worth $5 each, for a total value of $50, that could be used from June through October. Each participant gets one booklet per harvest season and must reapply for the program each year.
Applicants must be 60 or older (unless they are disabled, in which case there is no minimum age). Their yearly, gross household income (before taxes are withheld) must be no more than 185 percent of the U.S. poverty income guidelines. In Hawaii last year that figure was $25,068 for a one-person household and $33,911 for a two-person household, according to the food bank.
Although funding for the 2016 program has yet to be released, you should contact the food bank now for more information and, equally important, to find out whether you qualify for other assistance, such as the Senior Food Box Program. This is a year-round program that provides low-income Oahu seniors with healthful food every month; the box includes milk, juice, cereal, rice/pasta, peanut butter/beans, cheese, protein and canned fruits and vegetables. Income-eligibility rules apply.
Something new
Readers’ brief expressions of gratitude (Mahalo) or dismay (Auwe) that appear periodically at the end of the Kokua Line question-and-answer column capture a slice of life in Hawaii. The Mahalo items highlight how even the smallest acts of kindness can fill folks’ hearts with happiness, restore their faith in humanity (that’s what they tell us!) and move them to share the good news. Conversely, the Auwe items give readers a chance to vent, to complain about people, places or processes that defy common decency and common sense. Perhaps simply calling out a problem might get the ball rolling to solve it.
While these two categories do convey a broad gamut of human emotion and experience, they can’t cover it all. And because Kokua Line receives more submissions that it can publish (a problem we like to have, so keep ’em coming!), we find ourselves skipping items that don’t fit neatly into the Question, Auwe or Mahalo category. So we are adding a new category. At the suggestion of a reader, whose submission will be the first of its type, we’ll call it “E kala mai” — Hawaiian for “excuse me,” “pardon me” or “I’m sorry.” Like the Mahalo and Auwe items, these expressions of empathy and responsibility will highlight the interdependence of island life, how we affect one another by our daily actions — whether we realize it in the moment or not.
As with the Mahalo and Auwe items, Kokua Line would prefer receiving E kala mai submissions via email (kokualine@staradvertiser.com) or by mail to the address listed below. All three types of items will continue to appear intermittently at the end of the column as space permits.
E kala mai
Apologies to a tow-truck driver. Not seeing you, I pulled out in front of you Friday afternoon on Sand Island Parkway. Thank you for having good attention and quick reflexes to avoid hitting my car, plus not giving me stink-eye or any sign language as you eventually passed by my car. — Truly sorry
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
