Millions of dollars are coming to fund WIC clinics throughout St. Lawrence County, to provide access to food for poor people.

North Country Family Health Center, which has its St. Lawrence County office at 3 Remington Ave., Canton, and runs WIC (WIC (Women, Infants and Children) clinics held in Brasher Falls, Canton, Gouverneur, Massena, Norfolk, Ogdensburg, Potsdam, will be getting $1,138,082 a year for five years – a total of $5,690,410 – to run those WIC clinics and others in Jefferson, Lewis and Franklin counties.

And St. Regis Mohawk Services is to receive $75,914 a year for five years, or a total of $379,570 for their WIC outreach.

These programs administer the funds from New York State’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program to serve the Women, Infants and Children program and drive expansion of services where the need is greatest, according to a press release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.

“New York State’s WIC program is vital to ensuring that families with young children have access to resources essential for leading healthy lives,” said New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker. “With these funds, local contractors who provide these services will be able to strengthen their operations and expand their reach to help even more families.”

The program provides resources to qualifying New Yorkers in need of nutrition assistance. It also helps to reduce obesity, health disparities and the risk for chronic disease among program participants by promoting positive health outcomes and breastfeeding.

Right now WIC provides services to about 110,000 income-eligible pregnant, post-partum or breastfeeding women and approximately 360,000 infants and children up to five years of age each month in the state.

One goal of this new round of funding is to expand the reach of the program in underserved areas to provide services to new participants. Ultimately, the aim is to boost service to include at least 50 percent of the eligible population in each county.

For additional information on the WIC Program, including information on who qualifies for WIC benefits, visit: http://www.health.ny.gov/wic/.