JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Going to the grocery store is something you may take for granted. But for a lot of families in Duval County, it’s something they have to think twice about. That’s because of areas called food deserts, where it’s difficult to buy fresh food that’s affordable and good quality.
"I think it’s great," said Michael Staten, a shopper. "It’s an awesome opportunity, you know, for the city as well as the community."
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"Well, you know, this is an opportunity to partner with the mayor’s office as well as Bethel Baptist," said JuCoby Pittman, of Clara White Mission. "We’re in Zone 1 where there’s a lot of health disparities in this community."
"The reality right now is that not every neighborhood in every ZIP code has access to the fruits and vegetables that I have access to in my neighborhood," said Mayor Lenny Curry. "This is the beginning of saying that we care and we want to be a part of the solution."
"Well, I’m glad you asked that question and that’s why we took the farmers market to the community," Pittman said. "This is just a way to roll out the brand of White Harvest Farm. Again, as I mentioned, in Zone 1 there are no places or very few places that you can get fresh produce. And this is right in the neighborhood. We work with local farmers who bring their produce to us. We sell it for them and, again, it’s a win-win for everyone. The food desert is from the Springfield area all the way to the North Side. So we’re talking maybe Beaver Street all the way to Dunn Avenue."
People in those and other areas around the city will be able to get fruits and vegetables almost all the time because of the 14 1/2-acre White Harvest Farm.
"You have to go to the ones that are producing it, that’s the farmers," said farmer William Byrd. "That’s the farmers. You've got to go to the farmers."
It doesn’t matter how you get them, as long as you have them.
"Oh gosh, you know, in order to get me to eat my vegetables, my wife has to put them in a blender," Curry said. "So I’ll take them all in a blender -- spinach, kale, you mix it up. I have a hard time eating them on the plate, which is a bad example for my kids."
If you want your church to host a "Farm to Faith" sale, contact the Clara White Mission.
For more information go to www.coj.net.