FORK starts Formula Support Program
By Vilas County News-Review, Posted on October 13, 2020
Feed Our Rural Kids (FORK) Inc., has started the Formula Support Program in a collaborative effort with the Vilas County Health Department.
“Stepping in where there is a need is how we envisioned the role of FORK from the beginning,” said FORK Perry Pokrandt. “That is why we are heartened by the creation of the Formula Support Program.
The program will provide supplemental formula to families registered in the Woman, Infant and Children (WIC) program who run short of formula prior to benefit renewal at the end of each month.
“WIC provides families with formula as one of the benefits through the WIC program,” explained Laurel Dreger, director of the Vilas County Health Department. “However, there are instances where the child demands more formula than is provided through WIC, or a family miscalculates the usage of the monthly allocations. In those instances, FORK’s Formula Support Program will provide those children an emergency source of formula without income limitations beyond those set by WIC.”
Families will have their child’s specific formula needs met through these participating businesses: Trig’s of Eagle River, Sentry of St Germain, Charlie’s Northwoods Market of Land O’ Lakes, and Walgreens of Eagle River.
“This program will likely be small in the number of families it potentially will serve in any given year, but huge in the impact it has on families who find themselves in this situation,” said Donna Hiller, Formula Support Program chairperson and advisor to the FORK Board of Directors. “It gives the Vilas County WIC counselors a tool they previously didn’t have with their efforts to support families with very young children.”
The program will be administered by the Vilas County Health Department and funded by FORK. Recipients must already have registered and qualified for WIC benefits to be eligible for this program.
Individuals who would like to support FORK’s effort to provide this kind of support to the youngest of children can make a donation online at FeedOurRuralKids.org; or they can mail their check to Formula Support Program, 4887 Echo Ridge Dr., Eagle River, WI 54521.