Fresh produce drives into Milwaukee's food deserts

Fresh fruits and vegetables.

Ask any doctor what they 'd recommend for a healthy diet, and hands down, that'll probably be one of their first answers.

But for hundreds living in Milwaukee's food deserts, sometimes access to fresh produce isn't so simple.

Thanks to Pick'n'Save and Hunger Task Force, those fruits and veggies just got a set of wheels: the Fresh Perks Mobile Market.

Stocked with fresh produce, this grocery store on wheels has been traveling all across Milwaukee's food deserts this past summer, allowing anyone to walk on into the truck and buy delicious (and inexpensive!) food.

We stopped by the Fresh Perks Mobile Market the other week and chatted with a few of the shoppers taking advantage of this traveling store. One man we met, Stonewall Kelly, is retired and lives at College Court on Milwaukee's Lower West Side.

Kelly, a retired chef, shared that many seniors, like himself, have a difficult time getting to grocery stores. ....And the result of limited access to a grocery store? Fast food or meals with lots of preservatives,

are something we all we know need, because the doctors tell us!"

And for Kelly, that was a special day for him. With the Mobile Market parked right outside of his home, the neighborhood was filled with seniors and community members with armfuls of fresh produce; eager to go home and cook up a fresh and healthy meal.

“Hunger is not only a problem of poverty; it is a problem of access to food. We want to be a part of the solution,” said Jess Terry, Hunger Task Force Board Member.

And with one big truck and lots of produce, the Mobile Market is doing just that: being a part of the solution.

Want to check out the Fresh Perks Mobile Market? You check out their schedule and learn more here.

For more of my conversation with Stonewall Kelly and experience visiting the Mobile Market, click the audio player above.