Editor:

We are writing this letter to clear up a misconception in the headline “Shutdown casts shadow on poor moms, kids,” (Journal, Oct. 8) regarding the government shutdown. Our WIC clients are not “poor moms.” They are loving moms, foster moms, grandparents, and dads trying to provide the most nutritious foods they can for their family and themselves. All are low-income due to many reasons: Some work two jobs to provide income; all have at least one nutritional risk factor. Many do not qualify for food stamps and WIC is the only program they are on.

We in your local WIC are proud to serve our clients and empower them with education and support – the term “poor moms” was offensive to many of our clients and we just want them to know how much we value them and are sorry for the stress the lack of funds might have caused them.

Laurie Montano, Delilah Darland Mott, Donna Pettingill

Cortez