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Chef Michel Nischan's Wholesome Wave initiative has been deeply rooted in the farming community since its inception in 2007, nurturing relationships between communities in need, and growers in search of local customers.

Now, Nischan tells Eatocracy, Wholesome Wave is partnering with New Orleans-based non-profit organization MarketUmbrella to offer food buying support, via a new program called MarinersMatch, to Gulf fishing families affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The spill, which released over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from April 20th through its final sealing-off on September 19th, has had a tremendous economic impact upon the thousands of commercial fishermen, crabbers, oystermen and shrimpers who have long made their living from the Gulf waters. While areas remained unaffected, and BP has provided cleanup assistance jobs to some displaced workers, much of the community remains without a steady source of income.

MarinersMatch mimics Wholesome Wave's signature Double Value Coupon Program, which allows recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefit Transfer (SNAP EBT) or food stamps to receive double benefits when shopping at any of 160 participating farmers markets in 20 states around the nation. In this partnership with MarketUmbrella, a New Orleans-based organization devoted to growing the field of public markets for public good, the presentation of a valid fishing license and a photo ID will entitle the bearer to $40 worth of farmers market tokens for each purchase of food from local farmers along the New Orleans and Mississippi Gulf Coasts, while supplies last.

"Fishers can go to farmers markets and take pressure off their income. The market is a place of social healing, and a safe place to bring kids and form relationships with the community and farmers," Nischan tells Eatocracy. "Fishers will see that this is a good place for them to be - buying and even selling. At the farmers market, they can diversify and build relationships."

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