YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Some northeast Ohio nonprofits are making it easier for shoppers to find healthy foods.
The Mahoning Valley Mobile Market is a mini grocery store on wheels and Louis Fields said he knows everything that’s on sale.
“Unfortunately, the neighborhoods have gone down and stores have left,” he said. “It’s very hard for some people to get to grocery stores and get fresh fruits and vegetables.”
He works with the mobile market and coaches customers like Duane Watkins on what’s in-stock.
“We have bananas, pineapple,” Fields said.
Watkins isn’t much for getting groceries, even though he likes cooking.
“I’m a guy shopper,” he said. “We look it up, go pick it up and then leave.”
The mobile market helps make things easier.
“That way, we don’t have to drive anywhere,” he said.
Vicki Vicars, lead organizer for ACTION, said that’s the point.
“Folks live more than a mile from a grocery store, they live in census tracks with at least 20% poverty level, and they have a lack of their own transportation,” she said.
According to the USDA, that makes parts of Youngstown a food desert, she said.
“We hoped that people, that this fills their need,” she said. “That this helps them get this fresh food and fresh produce.”
ACTION partnered with the nonprofit Flying HIGH to ring up an interest in smarter shopping by bringing the store to locations like churches and housing centers, and accepting SNAP cards, vouchers, cash and credit.
“Living off gas station food and things like that, it’s very unhealthy,” Fields said. “So, for the future of our children, future of our neighborhoods, this is huge.”
