SHAWANO (NBC 26) — Gaining access to healthy and affordable food can oftentimes pose a challenge for people living in rural areas.
According to the F.R.E.S.H Project, an organization promoting food security, they say large areas in Shawano County and beyond are in what is known as "food deserts."
“Because they don’t have the grocery stores, the large grocery stores a lot of times the produce isn’t all that good or they have very limited stock of produce so we like to bring it out to the people. Especially for those who can’t drive, we’re in the rural communities where people can come to us and buy from us,” said Barbara Mendoza, F.R.E.S.H Project executive director.
This year their mobile market has been expanded to Menominee County.
Mendoza described that county as having a large poverty rate.
“We’re going to Keshena every other Friday. We start this Friday and then every other Friday we will be there because we rotate our spots every week,” Mendoza said.
At each market, they will be having a wide range of fruits and vegetables from strawberries, eggs, rhubarb, and much more.
“People here struggle so much to eat fresh. There isn’t that much food out here and if we can do our part to help people eat fresh, we’re doing our job,” Mendoza said.
Little by little, Mendoza and others with the project are continuing to do what they can to hopefully make a difference for our neighbors.
“They keep coming back, they love it, people are excited about this people are excited. The produce we get from our farmers is just amazing what we get,” Mendoza said.
For more information on the upcoming mobile markets click here to see full dates and locations.
