County budget shortfall puts many babies at risk

By Keri Brenner | The Olympian • Published June 05, 2008

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OLYMPIA – With baby formula costing up to $15 a can, some new mothers in Thurston County say they're shocked that their food-assistance program could be cut.

"If I didn't have it, I wouldn't be able to feed my son," said Amber Schlottmann, 22, the single mother of Jonathan Carter, 7 months. "Formula is so expensive."

Schlottmann is a client of the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program, also known as WIC. The program is state- and federally funded, but to receive that money, Thurston County must contribute about $300,000 annually.

County commissioners, faced with a $4 million shortfall in the 2009 budget, say they can't guarantee that they will be able to bail out the program next year. This year, commissioners saved the program by transferring $337,000 out of budget reserves.

If cuts are made to the program, some of the 3,000 WIC Nutrition Program participants in Thurston County could lose their access to the service, and eight full-time-equivalent WIC positions could be eliminated.

"I did assume for myself that I'd be out of a job," said WIC program coordinator Adele Roberts, a registered dietician. "I could probably find another job, but I'm more concerned about what happens when these families aren't getting extra food."

In Thurston County, WIC has two programs that provide a total of $2.7 million annually in groceries, grocery vouchers and farmers market vouchers to pregnant or nursing women and young children. Besides the county-run program, there is a smaller WIC operation run by the area Community Action Council.

Roberts said 63 percent of the families getting WIC countywide are headed by adults who have jobs.

"The perception that these people are all on welfare is not correct," Roberts said.

Families earning up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible. For a family of four, for example, that amounts to a $39,220 annual income.

In addition to food, WIC offers nutritional education and support — including help with what to eat during pregnancy. Schlottmann said she received milk, peanut butter and cheese from WIC when she was pregnant and nursing. Now that Jonathan has stopped nursing, Schlottmann gets vouchers for nine cans of formula a month, plus baby rice cereal, oatmeal and juice. By providing food for Jonathan, WIC allows Schlottmann, who receives public assistance for a disability, to use her $84 a month in food stamps for groceries for herself.