Now that I am finishing up my Junior year as a nutrition major, I have really found a passion for the non-profit organization Women, Infant, and Children, or more commonly known as, WIC.
This program offers health services, supplemental food, and education about breastfeeding and early motherhood for low-income women. The way this program works is that if you are qualified to be apart of WIC you and your child are provided under the program until your child turns 1, and after that just your child is supported until they are 5.
WIC provides food vouchers or checks so women are able to feed their children and not have to worry about the money. They provide this service through grocery stores, and they can buy things like infant cereal, fruit juices, eggs, milk, baby food, and whole-grain food options. Each food item has to meet the WIC nutrition standards or else it is not covered under the voucher given. The reason for this is because one of WIC’s missions is to help mothers and their children by eating better and developing healthy eating habits early.
Another resource that WIC offers is courses for breastfeeding and education on prenatal care, as well as early motherhood. WIC strongly encourages women to breastfeed because it overall gives better nutritional value to their child, and it doesn’t cost a penny! If the mother does not choose to breastfeed though, they are able to get formula for the first 6 months of their child’s life. In addition to breastfeeding they also offer basic nutrition education classes like what foods to feed your child and what can help their child’s health in the long run.
WIC is provided all over the country, and is provided in many places. For example, WIC services can be found in hospitals, schools, mobile clinics, county health departments, and public housing sites.
I personally became very passionate about WIC when I heard about it in one of my nutrition classes and it sounded like something I would absolutely love– and I do! I personally love non-profit organizations, and I also love kids! In addition I’ve always been interested in pregnancy and working with the nutrition aspect of pregnancy, so WIC happened to fit everything I want to do! I really hope to visit a WIC clinic this summer and shadow different nutritionist and really see what they do on a day-to-day basis because I think it will only further my passion and interest for this program. I strongly believe in WIC’s missions and I really want to help in any way I can. After graduation I plan to work in a WIC clinic and see where that can take me and what opportunities it will open up for me. I will continue to keep up-to-date with what new programs they implement and how they are improving the ones they already have in place.
WIC is a great program that does nothing but help people, and that is what drew me to it in the first place! For more information click on the link below!
http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/women-infants-and-children-wic