Green City Market — the nonprofit behind Lincoln Park’s flagship farmers’ market and Avondale’s newest winter market — is also a major provider of nutrition assistance in Chicago.
1 in 7 households in Chicago face food insecurity, and government nutrition assistance benefits are chronically insufficient. It’s well documented that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits run out for most households well before the end of the month, leaving many families struggling to make ends meet.
With the help of our supporters, Green City Market increases SNAP users’ purchasing power by welcoming and matching SNAP benefits through a program called GCM For All, enabling customers to access nutritious, sustainably-produced food.
After emergency SNAP allotments were cut in March of 2023, the need for Green City Market to fill in the gaps left by insufficient government assistance became even more essential to keep food-insecure households fed.
Federal nutrition assistance benefits are now the lowest they've been in three years, as supermarket prices hit record highs.
So far this year, demand for GCM For All has skyrocketed.
We've seen a 183% increase in program participants, a 283% increase in first-time participants, and we've distributed almost triple the amount of SNAP benefits and matching funds than the same period last year.
Unfortunately, the sudden increase in demand for nutrition aid means we're on pace to run out of the funds to continue our 2:1 SNAP benefits match before the end of July.
Please donate now to help Green City Market scale up support for the thousands of Chicagoans who rely on our programs to make ends meet and access nutritious food.
Due to the urgency of this need, Green City Market has obtained a matching grant of $50,000 — every dollar you give between now and June 30 will be matched to help keep our food access programming going uninterrupted.
Depending on SNAP can be difficult enough, but “not having enough [benefits] monthly is a whole other battle,” shared a GCM For All participant; “Please don’t take this help away from us from our kitchen table.”
“I'm beyond grateful for any help I can get with providing fresh fruits and veggies to my grandson… My Link [a.k.a. SNAP] goes further [at GCM], providing us with enough local, organic, safe produce.”
Image credits: Green City Market
