It’s unfortunate that some military families earn so little that they qualify for help through the Women Infants and Children’s program, or WIC.
WIC is a federal program that provides supplemental foods, health care referrals and nutrition education for pregnant women, infants and children up to age 5.
On Whidbey Island, about 700 Navy families receive assistance each year from the WIC office on the Seaplane Base.
These are families that are also challenged by deployments and other stresses of military service.
Thankfully, Navy officials — under pressure by two federal lawmakers — recently reversed a decision that would have made life more difficult for these families.
The WIC office will stay open on base after all.
Last year, military brass inexplicably decided to stop allowing “non-federal entities” to use buildings on bases rent-free. That would have included the WIC office. Even though it’s a federal program, it’s administered by the nonprofit Community Action of Skagit.
It would have been difficult for the other WIC office in the county to absorb all the additional families. Some Navy families reportedly said they wouldn’t have relied on WIC services if forced to go off base for them.
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Rick Larsen recognized the senselessness of the military’s edict and wrote letters to higher-ups, including Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.
And it worked.
The Department of the Navy recently decided to offer the WIC office a five-year lease that allows the organization to stay onsite with few costs.
It should be emphasized that the original decision to kick WIC off the base wasn’t made on Whidbey Island but came from bureaucrats far away, officials removed from the challenges of life as a junior enlisted member of the Navy.
Whidbey Island Naval Air Station is known as a family-friendly environment and a place with healthy cooperation between the base and the community. After all, “Team Whidbey” was recently named the Navy’s best base.
This decision to keep WIC on the Seaplane Base should help NAS Whidbey retain its trophy for years to come.
