Serving and Remembering
You Get What You Need
By:
Donna Liquori | Source: AARP Bulletin
Today | September 11, 2009
Volunteer Gianna Gomez
helps a customer at the Veggie Mobile. Photo by Donna Liquori
The night
before the National Day of Service, I realized that my family needed
groceries because I’d just thrown out a lot of rotten produce. I ran
to the grocery store for a bag of food, including carrots, grapes
and cucumbers. Without blinking, I handed over my debit card for the
$39.70 purchase.
The
following day, my kids off to school with their nutritious lunches,
I headed to downtown Albany to meet the volunteers who operate the
Veggie Mobile. For Sept. 11, I wanted to volunteer at a project that
was life-affirming and encouraged people to be healthy. The Veggie
Mobile is a project of upstate New York’s Capital Region Community
Gardens, which manages 46 cooperative neighborhood food gardens. The
Veggie Mobile has sold produce wholesale in low-income
neighborhoods, including public and senior housing, since 2007.
I heard
its hallmark cheerful music before the brightly decorated truck came
into view and pulled up next to a flag flying at half-staff. Nick
Wallas, a 23-year-old AmeriCorps volunteer, hopped out to greet me.
He opened the truck, we unloaded produce and arranged it in wooden
bins lining the interior, and we set up a ramp from the pavement.
Nick had
barely turned on the cash register when customers began climbing
in—excited about the state of the nectarines and the local tomatoes.
Nick showed me how to weigh produce. Two other volunteers bagged and
rang out at a quick pace, greeting people by name. I jumped in when
I could. Many customers paid with benefit cards. For people who had
disabilities, we carried their produce down the steep ramp.
I carried
three bunches of scallions, some corn and change out to a woman who
sat at a bench beside her walker. Her name is Bessie Allen and she
saves her produce shopping for the Veggie Mobile because navigating
a grocery store is too hard; someone else does that for her. “I’m
used to being independent,” Allen said.
The Veggie
Mobile makes 15 stops a week. Sometimes the volunteers demonstrate
how to make a smoothie or another healthy dish.
The prices
were 30 to 40 percent below supermarket costs. Given their total,
some customers said, “That’s it?” But judging by the look on others’
faces, the expense was still tough. People bought only what they
needed, always asking about prices.
It will be
interesting the next time I go to the grocery store for a few
things. I won’t be buying more than I need.
Donna
Liquori lives in Delmar, N.Y.
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