well State Health leaders want to make access easier for the 240,000 people here who are part of the federally funded Wick program which provides healthy food baby formula and other necessities to low-income moms and their children by offering for the first time ever online grocery shopping and delivery if approved New Jersey would be the first state in the nation to offer that option in the program groups that work with struggling families say it would make a big difference in their lives but the Chang is require about $3 million in taxpayer funds and legislative approval Healthcare writer Lilo Stainton joins me now with the details hey Lilo good to talk to you so I'm curious what's the thinking the rationale behind making this uh online option and Home Delivery option available well I think my understanding I mean and and commissioner Bastion um talked about it as sort of modernizing uh you know the wick program um and this is a program that's been around for decades right um and it's proved really successful I think the thinking is just there are so many more people that could benefit but don't because of a key little piece a l you know a Missing Link in the chain maybe they don't have a bus pass or you know they they don't have access to a car or you know the stores in their neighborhood don't have the products they need I mean there's that are in walking distance so I think this is like trying to close those little gaps that we you know as reporters we see so often in these programs that are well intentioned and set up to succeed but then miss out on some people because of those tiny little disconnects you know well and during the pandemic of course we saw a lot of the online ordering options expand be it groceries or other items uh Wick as I understand and you can correct me is um infant formula uh breastfeeding necessities and foods for moms and their kids low-income moms and ex and a suite of other sort of referrals and connections to other programs so the local Wick offices do a lot um and you know as you say it became so common to online order during the pandemic I think we forget that this is sort of one of those privileges that many of us have that we don't even think of as you know grocery ordering online doesn't seem like something that's like Elite or privileged but for some people it really isn't an option and I think it's just a thoughtful way of opening up the program to more people so they need about $3 M million as you reported and obviously approval from the legislature to get this into the budget where does that stand and who do they feel it'll help most out of the moms who are using this program well one of the interesting thing is that if you look at Federal statistics more than half of uh Nationwide of Wick users are actually the children so it's it's new mom of course but it's also children in poor families so this might be on top of other benefits that they would receive as the family maybe food stamps or or um snap as it's now called I'm not a mother but from talking to mothers I understand that you know when you're home with a newborn it's really hard right you've got so much going on and um this could just you know the ability to get food delivered sounds like could really be a Lifeline um so it clearly that's going into it because they have sort of framed it under under sort of the The Wider um efforts the state is doing to improve maternal health and maternal and INF health care so you laid out what the Department of Health commissioner put as all of the the positives the pros for having a program like this but did you hear from any Advocates about where there might be complications right well some right now of course when you talk to the the people who are doing this work on the front lines they point out all kinds of you know potential wrinkles including you know a lot of poor families don't have good internet access you know there are also questions about um families that live in in um facilities in buildings that might be secure where you know nobody can get in from the outside to drop off groceries if they can't get downstairs at that moment they'd miss that connection so there's a concern there about groceries being stolen or misplaced so you know clearly the state has to Think Through the details on them this um but it's an interesting proposal that the legislature is now going to have to weigh yeah and they'll have to do that by July first when the budget needs to be finalized Lilo Stainton for us Lilo thanks so much thank you Bri