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A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 24 sepTember 2019
City gardens, public produce stands ease ‘food desert’ woes

By ANDREA SMITH is 5%. Comparatively, the
AMR ALFIKY number in Seattle is 7.8%;
Associated Press Washington, D.C., 6.4%;
ATLANTA (AP) — On his Baltimore, 4.3%; and Mil-
way home, Darnell Eleby waukee, 3.5%, according
paused before board- to the USDA.
ing the commuter train in Christopher “Mad Dog”
Atlanta’s Five Points sta- Thomas, 34, who grew up
tion and maneuvered his in the Altgeld Gardens
wheelchair to a stop not neighborhood on Chica-
seen on many mass tran- go’s South Side, said he has
sit platforms: a fresh food suffered from “’food des-
stand stocked with colorful ert eating disorder,’ where
fruits and vegetables. Aid- all you can afford to eat is
ed by a volunteer, he filled candy.”
a basket with bananas, ap- Thomas and his wife, Kath-
ples, corn and squash and ryn Gatewood, make a
paid with a health program weekly trip outside their
voucher. neighborhood to a store
“It helps you out when you called Pete’s Supermarket,
can’t get to the store,” Ele- which Kathryn Gatewood
by said. describes as “the black or
In Chicago, nonprofit Hispanic Whole Foods.”
groups have opened In this Friday, Aug. 9, 2019, photo, employees work at Growing Home, Inc’s farm in Chicago’s “We spend almost 40% of
health clinics where staff neighborhood of Englewood. our paychecks combined
provide patients with nu- Associated Press to ensure a healthier diet
trition education and free the past 14 years. the Metropolitan Atlanta said Alysa Moore, program for our kids,” she said, add-
coupons to area farm- The 44-year-old mother Rapid Transit Authority to manager for Georgia Fresh ing that it is a better alterna-
ers markets replete with said the couple began gar- run the stands. Launched For Less, which provides tive than buying bad food
healthy foods. Both cities dening when their oldest in 2015, the MARTA markets state residents who receive from the “dusty shelves” of
also have encouraged son was 3 years old, to fight are located at different sta- food stamps with financial corner stores in Englewood.
burgeoning efforts to plant “’food apartheid’ ... folks tions during the week. assistance to shop at farm- The Chicago nonprofit In-
urban gardens. deliberately disinvesting in “We cannot rely on tradi- ers markets. ner-City Muslim Action Net-
Large cities across the this community, removing tional retail methods,” said Eleby relies heavily on the work has launched “The
country are using this multi- healthy food away from Atlanta urban agriculture transit platform markets. Corner Store Campaign”
pronged approach to bring us,” Safia Rashid said. director Mario Cambardel- Without them, he said, he’d to change that.
healthy diets to “food des- The Rashids’ garden grows la. be forced to rely on a small Sami Defalla, who runs the
erts,” mostly low-income at the South Chicago Farm, Nonprofits also have scattering of stores in his Morgan Mini Mart in Engle-
neighborhoods located a 14-acre (5.6-hectare) teamed up with ridesharing low-income neighborhood wood, has been an ac-
miles away from the near- site developed in 2015. It’s company Lyft to provide in southwest Atlanta where tive partner with the cam-
est supermarket. They hope one of eight such farms in up to 300 low-income fami- he said he has to smell food paign for more than two
not only to reduce rates of Chicago operated by the lies with discounted rides to or examine it for mold be- years. Defalla has created
diabetes, high blood pres- nonprofit Urban Growers farmers markets and gro- fore buying it. The food a “green zone” in the store
sure and obesity, but to en- Collective. cery stores in Atlanta. The there, he said, isn’t “like it’s where shoppers can pur-
courage community activ- In Atlanta, many of the to- six-month pilot program, supposed to be.” chase inexpensive fresh
ism and empowerment. matoes, peaches and pep- called Access AgLanta, As of 2015, roughly 22% of fruits and vegetables.
“We’re doing this out of ... pers found in bins at the began June 1, inspired by Atlanta’s population was “I wish I had a bigger plat-
responsibility toward our Fresh MARTA Markets come a similar Lyft partnership in living in a low-income com- form to offer more ... to my
community,” Safia Rashid from food grown in the city Washington, D.C. munity more than a mile customers,” Deffala said.
said of the garden she and nearby farms, said Hil- “What we have often from a food store, accord- The Muslim Action Network
and her husband, Kamau ary King, of the nonprofit heard over the years is that ing to the U.S. Department also operates a health clin-
Rashid, have tended on Community Farmers Mar- transportation is a huge of Agriculture. ic where patients can see
Chicago’s South Side for kets, which partners with barrier to food access,” In Chicago, that number a dietitian free of charge
and receive coupons for
free produce at the near-
by farmers market. Every
Friday, the group hosts a
farmers market where resi-
dents can connect with lo-
cal urban farmers.
As a volunteer in a commu-
nity garden in Atlanta, Ce-
leste Lomax is finally able to
take fresh produce home
to her low-income neigh-
borhood, which is located
about 4 miles (6.4 kilome-
ters) away from the nearest
supermarket.
In this Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019 photo, volunteer Xavier Lopez In this Friday, Aug. 9, 2019, photo, Maurice McCary, left, Stanford “We have a right to eat
helps a customer select fruits and vegetables at the Fresh MARTA Williams, center and Torreyon Simmons, work at the Growing
Market at the West End transit station in Atlanta. Home, Inc. farm in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. healthy like everyone else
Associated Press Associated Press does,” she said.q