Highland Roots Market Now Accepts SNAP/EBT Combined with Virginia Fresh Match

For Rachel Hiner and Andrew Clark, owners of Highland Roots Market in Monterey, making quality food available for all shoppers in Highland is personal. Here’s Rachel to tell us more:

“After COVID both my husband and I lost our jobs, and we were on unemployment temporarily, and we also went on EBT. We are really conscious of our diet, and using EBT was one of the only ways, and gave us a different perspective, we could continue eating healthy,” said Hiner.

EBT stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer, sometimes also referred to as food stamps. This electronic system allows Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, beneficiaries to pay for food using these benefits. When a participant shops at a SNAP authorized retail store, such as the Highland Roots Market, their SNAP EBT account is debited to reimburse the store for food that was purchased.

According to the Demographic Statistical Atlas for the United States,  7.3 percent of Highland County residents receive SNAP benefits, compared to 9.4 percent receiving benefits in the state of Virginia. In Highland almost 60 percent of those who receive SNAP benefits have a disability and almost 30 percent are children. 

The Highland Roots Market has also started using Virginia Fresh Match to better supplement all SNAP beneficiaries who shop in their location. Virginia Fresh Match is a network of farmers markets and food stores across Virginia that offer nutrition incentives. Fresh Match nutrition incentives double the value of federal nutrition benefits like SNAP spent at participating farmers markets and food stores. With Virginia Fresh Match, low-income consumers can afford additional healthy food, local farmers gain new customers and make more money, and more food dollars stay in the local economy.

“The Fresh Match program is really good because most of our produce is local or organic and it instantly takes 50 percent off, so any added expense that comes with buying local or organic is instantly removed… and you don’t have to drive over an hour to buy produce,” added Hiner.

The Highland Roots Market is located at the intersection of Routes 250 and 220 in the heart of Monterey.