CFC Expands Comfort Food Bucks Program

Increasing access to fresh, nutritious foods, one voucher at a time.

In partnership with Healthy Alliance, Comfort Food Community is expanding its Comfort Food Bucks Produce Prescription Program! This initiative provides eligible participants with weekly food vouchers that can be used to access fresh, nutritious foods—enough to support up to three healthy meals per day, seven days a week, for up to six months. 

Elizabeth Schumacher, the Food as Medicine Coordinator, is leading the expansion of this program. Since the expansion was launched in September, she has been working to get eligible Medicaid Members access to the new benefits, like the weekly food vouchers. Let’s hear more about the program expansion from Elizabeth. 

What are some of the benefits of this program's expansion, and how do you see it benefiting the community? 

Comfort Food Community’s Food as Medicine programs at large empower participants by providing financial resources to purchase nutritious foods. This support not only creates room in household budgets but also encourages individuals to explore healthier dietary choices without the added financial stress. 

The program's expansion increases the amount of voucher dollars we can provide to individuals significantly to purchase healthy foods. This leads to greater financial empowerment to prioritize healthy foods and improves access to nutritious foods for a broader segment of the community. Ultimately, it has a greater impact on reducing the financial stress associated with affording a health-focused lifestyle and public health outcomes at large. 

How do you use the food vouchers? 

Once qualifying participants, like eligible Medicaid Members, are referred to our food voucher program, we mail them vouchers weekly for up to six months. We inform participants of eligible stores, farm stands, and farmer market vendors that accept vouchers along with details on their operational hours. The participants can then use the vouchers at their leisure to the stores, farm stands, and markets of their choice. The vouchers expire at the end of the last month of their enrollment. 

When they use them at qualifying stores, vendors treat the vouchers like cash. Participants give the total sum of vouchers needed at the register and the vendor takes the vouchers. Unlike cash, no change or cash back is given so we encourage participants to be mindful of this and think through their purchase, so they are coming as close as possible to the sum of vouchers they plan to use. 

What are your hopes for this program?  

Fresh Food Farmacy Program

My hope is that this program continues to grow and becomes more fully integrated into clinical settings. I would love us to get to a point where healthcare providers prescribe specific health-supporting foods—such as beets for cardiovascular health—just as they would a medication. In this model, our program would serve as the “farmacy,” distributing the prescribed produce or vouchers to purchase the produce with insurance providers that are covering the cost of the prescription. I also feel there is significant potential for expansion of our existing program with food prescriptions, enhanced nutrition education, and including medically tailored meals into our healthcare delivery. 

What does Food as Medicine mean to you? 

To me, Food as Medicine represents a holistic approach to health, one that acknowledges the connection between what we eat and how we feel, function, and ability to be our best selves. Food as Medicine recognizes that food is not only for sustenance or pleasure but can be used as a foundational tool for prevention, healing, and overall wellbeing. Many of the most pressing healthcare challenges we face today are rooted in diet-related conditions. Food as Medicine to me is a way to reimagine healthcare by intentionally bringing nutrition into clinical practices to improve health outcomes. It can change the standard where healthy food and healthy living is not a privilege but the norm for all. 

To find out if you or someone you know may qualify, please reach out to Elizabeth, at 518-746-4118 or at elizabeth@comfortfoodcommunity.org.