Anaheim, California-based Northgate González Market recently wrapped up its ¡Más Fresco! More Fresh Program.
The program provides community members participating in the CalFresh program up to $100 a month in nutrition incentives when they purchase fresh fruits and vegetables, with their CalFresh benefits, at any Northgate González Market across Southern California.
The ¡Más Fresco! More Fresh Program is a partnership between U.C .San Diego Health, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Northgate González Market. The program provides rebate dollars to CalFresh recipients when they purchase fresh fruits and vegetables with the CalFresh benefits on their EBT card.
CalFresh recipients who enroll in this program are assigned to earn $2 in rebate dollars or $4 in rebate dollars for every CalFresh benefit dollar spent on fresh fruits and vegetables at participating Northgate González Markets. Program participants can earn up to $100 per month of rebate dollars.
“Since 2017, more than 7,000 underserved community members across Southern California have participated in the ¡Más Fresco! More Fresh Nutrition Incentive Program,” said Oscar Gonzalez, co-president.
“The Gonzalez family has always prioritized making our communities a priority and with this program our qualified customers have earned over $2 million in nutrition incentives, enabling them to purchase and consume more fruits and vegetables to provide better health for low-income families.”
To qualify, program participants must be a CalFresh participant, at least 18 years or older and shop at a participating Northgate González Market.
CalFresh participants who enroll in the ¡Más Fresco! More Fresh Program are randomly assigned to earn either $2 in rebate dollars or $4 in rebate dollars for every CalFresh benefit dollar spent on fresh fruits and vegetables. Qualified customers can earn a maximum of $100 per month of rebate dollars. The program is available at its Orange County and Los Angeles County stores, but recently the program reached capacity in San Diego county.
Through their participation in Más Fresco, people have achieved an increase in their purchase of fruits and vegetables and in their level of food security.
The program has reached the capacity for new participants in San Diego County. However, Northgate Markets will continue to enroll CalFresh participants in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties.
Northgate Gonzalez Market is a Southern California supermarket chain that caters to the Latino community. Family-owned operated, Northgate operates 43 high-volume stores in Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties, providing the highest quality merchandise, fresh and prepared foods.
For more information, visit northgatemarkets.com.
