BINGHAMTON, NY (WSKG) — Starting this week, Broome County residents who use SNAP can get every dollar they spend on produce doubled at the Greater Good Grocery store on the North Side of Binghamton.
The Greater Good Grocery is the first store in the county to use the program, called Double Up Food Bucks. For every dollar a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) shopper spends on produce at Greater Good, they will receive an extra dollar to buy more fruits and vegetables.
Residents can sign up at the store and earn up to $20 each day buying produce. There is no spending limit, which means shoppers can save up their extra funds and spend them on produce whenever they’d like.
“Forty-five percent of the people that shop here at the Greater Good Grocery are on SNAP benefits,” said Joe Sellepack, executive director of the Broome County Council of Churches, which runs the grocery store. “This will benefit a whole ton of people on the North Side of Binghamton.”
The Double Up Food Bucks program is part of a partnership between the Field and Fork Network and the Broome County Council of Churches, which runs Greater Good.
“Families bring home more healthy food, farmers are getting more money in their pockets and a wider customer base,” said Frances McGuire, program manager of Double Up Food Bucks. “And then the money from the incentive dollars is circulating back into local economies.”
The Greater Good Grocery store opened in January, and has served thousands of residents since then.
“The Greater Good Grocery’s mission is to expand on healthy food,” said Kinya Middleton, general manager of Greater Good. “This program that we’re implementing today is definitely going to help expand that.”
The store is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.