USDA and the state of North Carolina are making it easier for participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) to take advantage of their benefits in the wake of Hurricane Florence. USDA says North Carolina will be able to issue benefits remotely and waive some nutrition education requirements in places where offices are closed, as well as replace September food benefits that were damaged or lost during the hurricane. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service approved the request from the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services to use these flexibilities because of the closure of 22 local WIC offices, affecting some 60,000 women, infants and children in the state. “North Carolina and USDA are working together to support the recovery of those affected by this devastating storm,” Perdue said in a news release. “Flexibility provided through the WIC program will make it easier for women and children to get much needed nutrition, ensuring they do not go hungry because of this terrible disaster.”
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