- The WIC nutrition program has a mission to protect the health of low income women, through health care referrals, diet education, and by providing nourishing foods.
- La Familia Nutrition is the only store on the westside that stocks WIC only food items to WIC customers
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
La Familia Nutrition has been in business for the past 15 years, helping WIC customers on the west side meet their nutritional needs. This operation doesn't work without the help of family support
“My mom had this type of business in Long Beach, that’s how we learned to manage a business like this and when we moved to Taft we noticed they didn’t have a WIC-only store, they had one in the past but it’s currently closed so we decided it was good for the community and the family to have a store like this,” says Karina Villa, owner of La Familia Nutrition.
Karina Villa says the store had to apply through the state, which regulates all the items... And also reimburses the store through the Department of Agriculture. The store gets about 40-50 people on average coming in to purchase WIC items, most being pregnant women or those who have just given birth, along with mothers with children 5 years and younger.
“They have to qualify first at the WIC office which is at the fort and once they apply there and they’re qualified they get their benefits on the WIC EBT card and once they have that they can come into our store with their benefits they can purchase their WIC approved items,” says Villa.
She says it's a family store, run by a family, and that their customers like shopping there. So they don't have to deal with big brand name stores where she says they have to find the approved items themselves, not to mention, the right quantity.
“With us, it’s really easy, it’s hassle-free they come into our counter, and we have everything that is WIC approved and so we help them choose what they want, how much of it they want,” continues Villa.
La Familia Nutrition is open from Monday through Saturday.
For those interested in joining the WIC program, or seeing if you qualify, The Fort in Taft is the place to go for more information.
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