Online grocery shopping is option in Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program • Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN — It started as a pilot project earlier this year, and now participants in Nebraska’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) supplemental nutrition program are able to order grocery items online.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with WIC counterparts in Minnesota and Iowa, was awarded a subgrant from the Center for Nutrition and Health Impact to implement the online ordering program.

Nebraska officials said they started piloting online ordering at one Hy-Vee store in Lincoln this March. In May, the pilot project was expanded to Hy-Vee locations across Nebraska that offer online pickup service.

The Nebraska WIC program serves about 35,000 financially qualified people across Nebraska each month, said Charity Menefee, director of the DHHS division of public health. 

“This online ordering component to our WIC program will increase access to nutritious foods for children and families to support a bright and promising future,” she said.

The program aims to create an equitable shopping experience for participants, reducing stigma associated with using WIC benefits and overcoming transportation and time constraint barriers, according to a project statement.

For more information about the Nebraska WIC program, visit https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/WIC.aspx.