TUNNELTON, W.Va. (WBOY) — After gaining significant popularity last summer, WVU Extension has brought back “Kids Market at the Store” for another year in Preston County.

Kids Market at the Store is an initiative created through the WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program and helps encourage children to choose healthy foods by allowing them to “purchase” them.

Last year, 100 families were involved in the program and 117 participants are currently enrolled this year. An additional 100 families are also on the waiting list for this year as families were selected based on need.

The program is funded through a grant provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. Preston County received $4500 in funding for the program this year.

Children enrolled in the program receive 20 wooden tokens that they can use to purchase fresh, locally-grown produce at participating grocery stores. Households are allowed a total of 60 tokens throughout the program’s six-week period. Those tokens are then marked with what the child bought so that farmers and grocery stores are properly compensated by WVU Extension using the provided grant funding.

Preston County has two participating locations this year, the W-W Service Center in Tunnelton and Haines Meat Market in Bruceton Mills.

12 News spoke with the program’s Youth Health Educator for Preston County Kozue Maye on the importance of encouraging healthy eating habits at a young age.

“Early education for eating the right kind of food is very important and trying to convince adults is much harder. The percentage of eating the adequate amount of fresh vegetables in West Virginia is ranking 45 in the United States. Only 5.1 percent is eating enough fresh produce, so we’re trying to encourage that more,” said Maye.

Maye said that on top of providing wooden tokens, the program is also giving families healthy recipe options to incorporate into their fresh produce into meal options.

WVU Extension is also hosting a Farm-to-Table Lunch Experience at the Newburg Volunteer Fire Department on July 20 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to share lunch featuring produce from local farmers from Preston County.