In April 2007, Capital District Community Gardens launched another
exciting, unique and innovative project that connects people in need to
healthy food
The Veggie Mobile.
Fruits and vegetables fill an important role in human
life: feeding the hungry belly. And they do so with nutritious
goodness. Fresh fruits and vegetables are key to a healthy lifestyle.
But, what if you live in a neighborhood where the nearest grocery store
is miles away and you don’t have a car?
The Veggie
Mobile is a
produce aisle on wheels, run out of a box truck, with refrigerators and
shelves displaying fruits and vegetables for sale. The truck was retrofitted to suit the needs of
the program by an amazing crew of multi-talented local volunteers. Solar
panels sit atop the roof to collect power to run refrigeration units and
other electrical equipment. The truck runs on biodiesel and is equipped
with an awesome sound system that plays lively music to
announce its’ arrival at our scheduled market stops.
The
Veggie
MobileMarket currently
operates Tuesday through Saturday with one hour stops at Senior
Centers (assisted living), public housing projects and other
densely-populated locations in Albany, Schenectady, and Troy. We
offer tastings as well as cooking demos at several of our stops where
hundreds of residents can come out and taste different
fruit and vegetables and then
purchase the produce right on the truck at nearly wholesale cost.
Veggie Mobile Schedule
2010 Spring & Summer Schedule
Effective 5/10/10
Day
Location
Time
Tuesday
Whitney M. Young Jr. Health Center
920 Lark Drive, Albany
1st & 3rd Tues
11:00a-12:00p
Unity House
2431 6th Avenue, Troy
2nd & 4th Tues
11:00a-12:00p
Ida
Yarbrough
270 N. Pearl Street, Albany
12:15-1:00p
Yates
Village
Van Debodgart & Vanvranken Ave. Schenectady
2:30-3:15p
Wednesday
Thurlow Terrace
2 Thurlow Terrace, Albany
11:00a-12:00p
Summit Towers
720 Albany Street, Schenectady
1:30-2:15p
Cohoes Senior Citizens Center
100 Cayuga Plaza, Cohoes
3:15-4:15p
North Albany YMCA
616 N. Pearl Street, Albany
4:30-5:30p
Thursday
Van Rensselaer Heights
460 Forbes Avenue, Rensselaer
10:45-11:15a
Renwyck Place, 18 4th St, Rensselaer
11:30a-12:00p
St. Sophia Greek
Orthodox Church,
440 Whitehall Rd, Albany
12:30-1:30p
The Kennedy Towers Senior Housing Development,
2100 6th Ave, Troy
2:00-3:00p
Capital District Community Gardens
40 River St, Troy
3:15-3:45p
Carroll Hill School
112 Delaware Ave,
Troy
4:00-4:45p
Friday
South Mall Towers
101 S Pearl St, Albany
11:00a-12:30p
John P.
Taylor Apartments
Congress St @ River St, Troy
1:00-1:45p
Ten Eyck
Apartments
375 Broadway, Schenectady
2:30-3:30p
Martin
Luther King Apartments
1 Eddy’s Lane by Frear Park, Troy
4:00-5:00p
Saturday
Hamilton Hill
Arts Center,
409 Schenectady St, Schenectady
To open a
printable version in Adobe Acrobat click
here.
To find out more about the day to day
operations, stories, and anecdotes from our Veggie Team visit their new blog:
The Veggie Mobile Blog.
To find the Veggie Mobile location
closest to you visit our
Google Maps site!
The thought process…
An idea that was tossed
around and talked about for years was finally a reality; a mobile market selling
nutritious fruits and vegetables in underserved neighborhoods throughout
Albany,Troy, and
Schenectady. The markets’ mission: to make healthy foods
more affordable and more accessible to low-income residents by selling directly
to the people, year-round at wholesale cost.
With CDCG’s
Community Gardens and
Squash Hunger programs successfully helping to
alleviate problems associated with local food security and access to fresh
foods, the Veggie Mobile has filled a critical need that exists in our area
cities: lack of grocery stores selling affordable fresh produce.
Now,
The Veggie Mobile serves our area’s inner city neighborhoods on a
regular schedule providing fresh fruits and vegetables where they are needed
most.
The Veggie
Mobile Project was made possible in part with a
five-year grant from the New York State Department of Health’s Hunger Prevention
and Nutrition Program. Additional funds are being raised from generous donors
throughout the Capital Region to help support the start-up and first year
operational costs for this innovative program.
Won’t
you join us by making a donation to support this unique effort to bring good
health and good food to neighbors in need?
Please
make a donation today!
Volunteers
are also needed for a variety of tasks necessary to keep this mobile market
running smoothly. Currently we are seeking individuals with open week days that
can help with the day to day operations of the Veggie Mobile. For information on volunteer
opportunities with The Veggie Mobile, check out our Get
Involved page and fill out our Volunteer Application.
Won’t
you join us by making a donation to support this unique effort to bring good
health and good food to neighbors in need?
