Pender County WIC receives the highest award of excellence

BURGAW – Pender County’s WIC department received the Premiere Award of Excellence from the US Department of Agriculture. The honor is called the WIC Breastfeeding Award of Excellence Program.

“This is the second time Pender County’s WIC agency has been honored,” said Carolyn Moser, Pender County Health and Human Services Director. “The recognition goes to agencies that have demonstrated model practices in Breastfeeding Peer Counseling as well as those who are at varying stages of implementing exemplary breastfeeding promotion and support practices.”

Only eight North Carolina local WIC agencies achieved the WIC Breastfeeding Award of Excellence. Six of those were Gold Award Winners. Pender County was one of only two agencies that was honored with the Premiere Award. The other county was Buncombe.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, this year North Carolina has the highest number of awardees in the southeast region, including the most Gold awardees and the only SERO State agency with Premiere awardees.

Pender and Buncombe counties have created an elite group, they are the only local WIC agencies in the southeast region to achieve the Premiere Award twice, according to the USDA.

“We are proud of our hardworking staff,” said Moser. “This is an important program that promotes good health for mother and child.”

To qualify for the Premiere Award, local WIC agencies must have a minimum of 15 percent of infants issued the fully breastfeeding food package in the previous year with improvement in the current year or a minimum of 25 percent of infants have been issued the fully breastfeeding food package in the current year.

WIC stands for Women, Infants, and Children.