Expand Healthy Food Access: Let Food Stamp Recipients Buy Food Online!

I've made a name for myself as a health and wellness expert and fitness coach. My passion for wellness as a means to empower people came from my own personal struggles with obesity. Through hard work, I was able to reclaim my health, but for people without access to healthy food, it's much, much more difficult. That's why I've teamed up with Thrive Market and Care2 to help raise awareness about this important issue and demonstrate the massive public support behind increasing access to healthy food.

Over 23 million Americans live in "food deserts" – places where healthy food is dozens of miles away. Across the U.S., families want to eat healthy, but are limited to what's sold at their local stores: food that's heavily processed with high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, and other additives that compromise their health and their waistlines.

Alternative solutions are popping up, including online marketplaces like Thrive Market, which delivers food that's far cleaner and much healthier right to your doorstep, quickly making food deserts a thing of the past. However, our most vulnerable populations that are the most in need are currently unable to take advantage of these services. This is because Americans who use food stamps are not allowed to use food stamps online.

Consider someone like Ashley, who is 17 and living in South LA. Her mom has a rare thyroid gland disease and can't work. Her doctors want her to adhere to a gluten-free diet, but most major retailers have incredibly limited gluten-free options. Ashley's family would benefit from online food shopping, but because they're using food stamps, right now it's impossible.

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which are much like a debit card, have made it easier for SNAP recipients to use their food stamps at places like farmer's markets. But EBT cards still cannot be accepted online because they require a PIN number for security.

The U.S. government was supposed to launch a pilot program to change this in spring 2016, but so far, it hasn't come to fruition.

We've got to change this. Buying food from online marketplaces like Thrive not only opens up an incredible amount of healthy options for low-income families, it cuts down on transportation costs and frees up a lot of time for a parent who may be juggling multiple jobs or is disabled or chronically ill.

Join me and Thrive Market in telling our legislators to speed up the pilot program and allow families like Ashley's to use food stamps online so they can access the food they need to stay healthy!
Dear Secretary Vilsack,

We the undersigned urge you
 to speed up the pilot program that would allow SNAP participants to use food stamps online so they can access the food they need to stay healthy.

Over 23 million Americans live in "food deserts" – places where healthy food is dozens of miles away. Across the U.S., families want to eat healthy, but are limited to what's sold at their local stores: food that's heavily processed with high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, and other additives that compromise their health and their waistlines.

Alternative solutions are popping up, including online marketplaces like Thrive Market, which delivers food that's far cleaner and much healthier right to your doorstep, quickly making food deserts a thing of the past. However, our most vulnerable populations that are the most in need are currently unable to take advantage of these services. This is because Americans who use food stamps are not allowed to use food stamps online.

Consider someone like Ashley, who is 17 and living in South LA. Her mom has a rare thyroid gland disease and can't work. Her doctors want her to adhere to a gluten-free diet, but most major retailers have incredibly limited gluten-free options. Ashley's family would benefit from online food shopping, but because they're using food stamps, right now it's impossible.

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which are much like a debit card, have made it easier for SNAP recipients to use their food stamps at places like farmer's markets. But EBT cards still cannot be accepted online because they require a PIN number for security.

The U.S. government was supposed to launch a pilot program to change this in spring 2016, but so far, it hasn't come to fruition.

We've got to change this. Buying food from online marketplaces like Thrive not only opens up an incredible amount of healthy options for low-income families, it cuts down on transportation costs and frees up a lot of time for a parent who may be juggling multiple jobs or is disabled or chronically ill.

Please speed up the pilot program that would allow SNAP participants to use food stamps online so they can access the food they need to stay healthy.

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