As children throughout Windham County return to school this week, some will find carrot and celery sticks on their desks along with the pencils and books.

Residents entering the St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church or dropping their students off across the street at the parochial school will see two familiar faces greeting them.

A pilot program that began last year in Vermont in Brattleboro and Bellows Falls to allows consumers to use food stamps at farmers' markets is now spreading across the state, and the rest of the country.