Funds run dry by end of the month

PHOENIX – Two-year-old Gia was 13 days old when doctors diagnosed her with Hirschsprung’s disease, a condition that affects the large intestine. She needed specialized formula. But as the girl’s mom, Esparanza, recalled, her husband’s sales job barely covered rent.

So when they qualified for the federal Women, Infants, and Children program, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

WIC provides formula and foods such as milk, juice, cheese, eggs, bread, beans, cereal and peanut butter, plus up to $26 per month per child and $52 for mothers. For Gia, the program meant a supply of much-needed probiotic yogurt.

“Without it, I don’t know,” said Esparanza, who asked her full name not be used. “But we know that we have to do what we have to do to provide

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