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Monday, December 16, 2013
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Lynch finishes third in Heisman voting
DeKalb High School senior plans for career in politics
Evan Guest
Local service hopes to aid more Women, Infants and Children program already helps more than 1,800 in DeKalb County By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Kay Chase didn’t know about the Women, Infants and Children program until she started working for it. Chase is the program coordinator for the DeKalb County branch of the federally funded food and nutrition assistance program, commonly referred to as the WIC Program, which serves qualifying low-income families across the nation. WIC Program officials serve about 1,875 clients a month in DeKalb County, Chase said, but they want to serve more. Clients in the program receive $40 to 80 a month in coupons for USDA-approved foods, as well an education on nutrition, including breastfeeding.
“We want to serve people out there that need to be served,” Chase said. “There’s people out there who need food.” Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding and children younger than 5 are eligible for the program depending on their income. A family of four that earns up to $43,568 a year, or $1,816 monthly, is eligible. The WIC Program is funded by the federal government. The amount of money they receive is load-based, said Cindy Graves, director of community health and prevention. This means if the program gets more clients, they should get more money, Graves said. The WIC Program in DeKalb County receives about $318,000 a year, which is distributed by the state.
WIC Program officials have distributed posters in laundromats, libraries and local food pantries to get the word out about their program. They’ve also relied on wordof-mouth resources. That’s how DeKalb resident Megan Jackson heard about the WIC Program. Her former sister-in-law suggested she sign up after she became pregnant. Jackson, a seven-year client who has been in and out of the WIC Program because of age requirements with her three children, said her family has saved a lot of money going grocery shopping. “My kids drink a lot of milk,” Jackson said. “[Coupons for] milk alone has given us huge savings in our household budget.”
See PROGRAM, page A8
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Megan Jackson picks out some groceries Saturday with her 1-year-old son, Cameron Jackson, at Schnuck’s in DeKalb. Jackson is in the Women, Infants and Children program.
DOWNTOWN DeKALB
Hopkins: Little retail space available
Sticker shock for health care insurance? By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press
through the catering business that he discovered a void in the community – banquet hall space. McMahon received a low-interest loan of about $340,000 from TIF funds to help renovate the building. And he’s hoping that as customers use his banquet hall, they also will take time to explore downtown.
CHICAGO – The next big challenge for the nation’s health care law may be sticker shock, when consumers find they’re still paying high medical bills after buying lowcost insurance for the first time. With a Dec. 23 deadline looming for anyone who wants health insurance by Jan. 1, people may hurry to choose plans with cheap monthly payments on a new insurance marketplace. But they may be surprised, especially if they’ve never had coverage before, to find they’re still on the hook for thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket “deductibles,” a standard part of most insurance policies. Many will find they must pay costs up to $6,350 – on top of their monthly premiums – before their insurance pays anything for actual medical care. If they have a family, they may have to pay nearly $13,000 in an out-of-pocket “deductible” before insurance starts paying. If you don’t know about deductibles, you’re not alone. Only 14 percent of American adults with insurance understand deductibles and other key concepts of insurance plans, according to a study published this year in the Journal of Health Economics. If people with insurance don’t understand it, it’s likely that uninsured Americans’ grasp is even fuzzier. If they make poor decisions when shopping for insurance for the first time, they may be surprised that the law’s promise of affordable care, for them, is still out of reach.
See RETAIL, page A8
See HEALTH CARE, page A8
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Line cook Xan Peldonia slices bread in preparation for a holiday party Saturday at Faranda’s in DeKalb.
New retail establishments, such as Faranda’s, have recently opened By DEBBIE BEHRENDS dbehrends@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Ducky’s Formalwear is looking to move from its current location, but has no plans to leave downtown DeKalb, confirmed manager Diane Hosey. “We’ve run into issues with a building we’ve been looking at, and won’t know anything until the end of
March,” Hosey said. Other downtown business owners, Bill and Joy McMahon of The Lincoln Inn, have invested additional money in the community with the opening of Faranda’s, a banquet hall in the former DeKalb Clinic Annex at 302 Grove St. “DeKalb has been a great community to do business in,” Bill McMahon said. “There’s great grassroots
Voice your opinion What area of DeKalb is most in need of new development? Go to Daily-Chronicle.com to vote. support here. People want to support their downtown.” The Lincoln Inn also provides catering, and McMahon said it was
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