Sharon Wasneuski, director of the WIC Program of Lancaster County, said the staff receives 20 calls a day from potential applicants. Last year, more than 400 people entered the program.
"We are seeing a lot more clients than ever before," Wasneuski said. "We gear everything to the children."
A food and nutrition education program, WIC provides services for infants, children under 5, and pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, as well as single fathers with low to moderate incomes.
According to WIC's mission, it is committed to improving the health of eligible applicants by providing nutrition education, healthy foods and referrals to other health and social agencies during the critical stages of fetal and early-childhood development.
It helps children get lead testing, teaches mothers about the food pyramid and breastfeeding and offers special formula at half the usual cost.
The program also offers nutritional counseling and food vouchers, which are redeemable for supplemental food. Used at certified grocery stores or farmers' markets, the vouchers are good for foods such as cereal, formula, cheese, milk, eggs, dried beans, peanut butter, fruits, vegetables and fruit juices.
Wibberley said clients "get what they need" so they can be fed well.
With a caseload of 8,000, it is neither a private program nor a welfare agency.
The first Pennsylvania WIC clinic opened in Pittsburgh in 1974, created as a federal Department of Agriculture project following a national survey that found anemia and inadequate growth to be common among children in low-income families.
"There was always a push for mothers to receive prenatal care and children to receive nutritional foods," Wibberley said. He applied for the program in Lancaster County in 1977.
WIC opened in Lancaster County the next year. By 1981, the program had gone statewide.
There now are WIC clinics in Ephrata, Manheim, Welsh Mountain, Quarryville and Columbia and three in Lancaster City. Each nonprofit clinic receives a federal grant from the USDA, and the statewide budget of $126 million serves an average of 237,000 women, infants and children.
"It's the greatest way for kids to get a good start in life," Wibberley said.
In honor of WIC's 30 years, a breakfast, an office tour and an open house were held May 25 at the Community Action Program office, 601 S. Queen St. Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll attended, and Lancaster Mayor Charlie Smithgall was a guest speaker.
To qualify for WIC, applicants must reside in Lancaster County, have a medical or nutritional risk factor and have a household gross income that does not exceed 185 percent of the federal poverty level per household.