Veggie Mobile up for health honor
First
published in print: Friday, May 22, 2009
TROY — A
local nonprofit's idea for a "produce market on wheels" serving low
income urban neighborhoods has been named one of 10 finalists in an
international "Designing for Better Health" competition.
The Veggie
Mobile, operated by Capital District Community Gardens, was selected
from a field of 281 entries submitted by individuals and
organizations from 29 countries.
The Veggie
Mobile, launched in 2007, makes regularly scheduled stops at
inner-city locations in Albany, Schenectady and Troy five days a
week. The truck sells a large variety of fruits and vegetables at
wholesale prices. The vehicle runs on biodiesel fuel and powers its
refrigeration units with solar panels.
The
winners of the "Designing for Better Health" competition will be
determined by votes cast by visitors to the Changemakers Web site.
The Veggie Mobile's entry and those of the other finalists can be
seen at http://www.changemakers.net/designingforbetterhealth.
Registration, which is free of charge, is required to vote for
finalists. The top three vote-getters will be announced as winners
on June 1.
"We're
excited and honored that The Veggie Mobile is a finalist in this
competition," said CDCG Executive Director Amy Klein. "The prestige
of the sponsoring organizations and the global scope of the entries
makes this a very important milestone in the history of The Veggie
Mobile and Capital District Community Gardens."
Noting
that she was inspired to launch the Veggie Mobile after reading
about a similar program, Klein said she hopes the honor leads to
others emulating the idea.
"The best
thing ... would be for this idea to spread in various forms to other
communities where it's needed," she said.
Changemakers was launched as a print magazine in Calcutta, India, in
1994. In 1998, it became part of Ashoka, a global network of social
entrepreneurs, then went online and evolved into the current format.
"Designing
for Better Health" is a collaborative competition, sponsored by both
Changemakers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (http://www.rwjf.org),
an organization dedicated to the improvement of health and health
care.
Capital
District Community Gardens is a regional nonprofit that helps local
residents improve neighborhoods, foster self sufficiency and grow
food through community gardening and beautify urban areas through
street tree programs. CDCG manages 46 cooperative neighborhood food
gardens that serve more than 3,300 families.
- Staff
reports
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