Niagara Falls Review - By Ray Spiteri
View full article here: Grow mobile truck to offer low-cost market across Niagara
Grow’s mobile truck to offer low-cost produce market across Niagara
Canada’s first fully electric mobile market truck will provide fresh and healthy food at affordable prices, with a focus on fresh produce.
Pam Farrell likes to bring firsts to Canada.
In 2020, she brought the country’s first community food literacy centre to Niagara Falls.
Now, Farrell — who earlier this year was named one of the world’s most influential women by global organization Women of Influence+— is bringing Canada’s first fully electric mobile market truck to Niagara.
The initiative, to launch Nov. 28, will allow Grow Community Food Literacy Centre to reach more communities by bringing fresh, affordable produce directly to neighbourhoods across the region with limited access to grocery stores.
It will also reduce food insecurity, provide greater access to healthy food options in areas facing “food deserts” and promote sustainability by operating with zero emissions. The “Grow-on-the-Go” project is an extension of the centre that has been operating a subsidized market each Saturday out of a former Scouts building on Fourth Avenue in Niagara Falls since 2020.
Grow has reached more than 35,000 points of service since opening and has received inquiries from other municipalities about how it can replicate the program beyond Niagara Falls. Farrell said it’s “not feasible” to open numerous brick-and-mortar stores, so the idea of a mobile market truck makes more sense. “When I was growing up in Switzerland, I remember distinctively having a bus pull up into our neighbourhood — it was a big diesel bus that came — and it was set up like a grocery store and you would enter in the back and check in with the driver,” she said. “I wanted to replicate that in some way with the same model that we have with our Grow market, so the focus on fresh produce, fruits and vegetables, and making it affordable to people who otherwise can’t afford it.” Farrell said Grow is working closely with Niagara Region Public Health and “we’ve been identifying some communities that they’re working with on how we might be able to have very targeted sites across the region.” “We’re still finalizing those,” she said. “We’re still looking at some community partners, too, because we want to connect with existing programs and where people already are going.”
Farrell said Grow had the fully electric truck customized to operate as a mobile market. “We went to an upfitter, we got the side cut out and put in shelving and things like that,” she said. “Picture a truck with a side that flips open and just an abundance of produce. We can pull up in different areas of the region and set up fairly quickly.”
Farrell said people can expect to pay prices similar to those at the market in Niagara Falls. “You can buy an apple for 25 cents or a banana for 10 cents.” She said 8.7 million people in 10 Canadian provinces live with food insecurity, including 2.1 million children.
“We know that food insecurity is rooted in a lack of income, but with this market I think we can make a really big difference to help people with their grocery bills because we know how much groceries have increased in prices over the last two years or so.” Farrell said Grow is looking for locations across Niagara where it’s easy for people to access it and where they might be able to piggyback on other programs.
She said the mobile market plans to serve as many as 10 locations each week. “We’re trying to do it similar to our market where we have the same day every week so people can rely on this regular point of access for good food. As we go through the startup of this program, we’ll just have to try out different things and see what works for us.” Farrell said Grow does its own fundraising but has received significant support from Branscombe Family Foundation and Rotary Niagara Falls. Public Health Agency of Canada provided the charity with a two-year grant to operate the mobile truck.
She said Grow has not stopped growing since being incorporated as a charity in December 2019. “We’ve added a full teaching kitchen. We’ve doubled the size of our market. The need in just that area is significant. We have reached over 35,000 service points — that includes access to our market, our food literacy programs, our cooking programs, the different events that we put on. We’re really embedded in the community in that sense.”
She said Grow continues to put “dignity” and “choice” first. “We know that people who are living with low incomes, who rely on social assistance, just don’t have enough money to go around, especially for good food and people have got to make some really tough choices,” said Farrell.
“We’re really trying to approach this from a sustainable and respect (perspective) where people can shop every week for the groceries that they need.” She said Grow has an “amazing team” of volunteers. “We don’t have any core funding from the city or from the Region. We have been successful with different grants — mostly federal grants that have helped us to grow our programs,” said Farrell, adding the teaching kitchen was made possible by an Ontario Trillium Foundation grant.
For more information about Grow, go to growcflc.com.
Ray Spiteri is a Niagara Falls-based reporter with the Niagara Falls Review.
Comentários