Rodale mobile market popping up at more Lehigh Valley and Pocono spots

The mid-day lunch crowd strolled through Allentown’s Arts Walk last Friday to escape the office and enjoy the warm sun. A few people sat down with a sweet treat from the Bananarama food truck, others trickled over to investigate the stands selling fresh produce. For some, the produce was only a quick stop on the way to junk food.Jesse Barrett set up his stand with four baskets. Besides garlic scapes, lettuce and kale, Barrett. , program coordinator for Rodale Institute’s Agriculture Supported Communities program, was selling Monocacy Coffee and small loaves of bread. Intrigued by this new set-up, a few potential customers nosed around the greens and asked Barrett about the produce.Eagerly, Barrett offered tips on ways to eat and prepare the organic food. He did not have a lot of produce with him that day. Most of it had already been sold to the 60 members of the ASC Farm Share Program. Few people who stopped at his stand actually purchased any of the goods Barrett was selling.Rodale is introducing The Mobile Market at several new locations in the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos this summer to provide easier access to fresh produce for people who otherwise might not have it. Some Allentown residents still struggle to obtain a variety of fresh produce, Barrett noted, which is why the Mobile Market is making several stops in the city. “We’re unique because we are able to go into these neighborhoods that don’t have access to grocery stores and help them get groceries that are organically grown,” Barrett said. “We’re bringing the grocery store to them.”Since 2015, the Mobile Market has appeared at the Allentown YMCA every Saturday morning between June and October. Business there tends to be robust, Barrett said. On the Arts Walk last week, several vendors joined Barrett for Allentown’s weekly Fresh Fridays open market. All the fresh produce at affordable prices delighted Lora Hargrove, who walked from her home in Center City to downtown, seeking vegetables for the dinner table. She pointed to each of Barrett’s baskets, asking him to bag some of this and that for her. As Barrett was bagging her vegetables, she asked him to add a loaf of bread.Leaning on a small black shopping cart as a makeshift cane, Hargrove, who is a senior citizen, made one last request of Barrett. She needed some helping getting the produce into her shopping cart, which he gladly provided. Because walking is her main form of transportation, Hargrove shops at small neighborhood markets that do not always have produce as fresh as The Mobile Market offers. Often she buys packaged fruit and salad from Rite Aid.She believes eating more fresh food will help her stay healthy, maintain her weight, and alleviate some of her ailments. “It would just help you live longer and a more productive life,” Hargrove said.Many share Hargrove’s belief, which is why the Buy Fresh Buy Local movement has taken off in recent years.Allison Czapp, director of Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley, said the most significant change has been the increased access through a program called Fresh Food Bucks that discounts vegetables for people in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly called Food Stamps). Residents of Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties spent about $4 million more on food purchased directly from local farms in 2017 than they had four years earlier, according to Buy Fresh Buy Local. “There’s a lot of work to be done still,” Czapp said. “But, we have made significant inroads to getting fresh food into these low access, low income neighborhoods.With 30% of the Lehigh Valley living below poverty level and at least a mile from a large grocery store, Czapp said the program is providing food access and variety to those with limited transportation. For senior citizens or families with children, walking more than half a mile to buy fresh produce can be a barrier, she said.Buy Fresh Buy Local works with small market owners to bring fresh produce into familiar and nearby locations. It also works with programs such as the special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, and Meals on Wheels to bring fruits and vegetables into more homes.While Buy Fresh Buy Local provides incentive for low-income people to buy more nutritious food, Czapp said it struggles with outreach. With the average SNAP recipient leaving the program after six months, there is a constant turnover of people who need to be notified about benefits such as Fresh Food Bucks.With Fresh Food Bucks, Rodale can do a dollar-for-dollar match on vegetable sales when customers use a SNAP card at The Mobile Market. Customers can also make purchases through WIC. Buy Fresh Buy Local uses a federal grant to reimburse the market for those discounted prices.The Mobile Market also partners with The Food Trust, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, to offer cooking demonstrations for recipes that call for organic food. “I believe it’s just important to educate the public and get them interested in eating fresh organic produce instead of going to fast food restaurants,” Barrett said.The Mobile Market will be at these locations this summer:July 11: noon to 2 p.m., WIC office in AllentownJuly 13: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Bethlehem VegFestJuly 18 and 25: noon to 2 p.m., rotating at Lehigh County Public Assistance officesJuly 26 and 27: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Pocono RacewayAugust 29 to September 4: Allentown Fair, Farm to Table exhibit.Morning Call reporter Ashley Stalnecker can be reached at 610-820-6647 or astalnecker@mcall.com.
Source: Morningcall