The Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program’s electronic benefit transfer (EBT) system was officially launched Monday in Orange and Seminole Counties. The WIC offices in these counties join all Central Florida Department of Health offices as a part of the statewide rollout of EBT to better serve Florida’s families in need.
“Today’s launch is a big achievement for families who are in need of this service,” said Dr. Kevin Sherin, director of the Department of Health in Orange County. “WIC EBT makes it easier for families to get nutritious food which in turn leads to healthier outcomes for babies, kids, and moms.”
The transition from paper checks to WIC EBT delivers benefits more efficiently to families as well as Florida’s 2,000 WIC authorized grocers. Paper checks will no longer be required and the electronic card will allow for faster checkout times and easier processing of benefits.
With the EBT, Florida’s authorized WIC grocers will see a significant reduction in the cost of processing WIC checks.
WIC is a federally funded program that provides healthy food, as well as breastfeeding education and nutrition counseling to needy families.
For more information on WIC services in Orange and Seminole Counties go to, http://orchd.com/personalHealth/wic/index.asp or http://www.floridahealth.gov/chdSeminole/WIC.html.
