Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Mobile farmer’s market takes healthy food to those who can afford it least

Veggie Buck Truck

Jackie Valley

Geneva Ruiz, left, waits as a volunteer rings up her produce purchases at the Veggie Buck Truck, a mobile farmer’s market that debuted Friday, June 3, 2016. Its first stop was a Nevada Welfare Division office on Belrose Street. Rosalind Brooks, right, who is the founder of Vegas Roots community garden, which created the Veggie Buck Truck, points to a register for waiting customers.

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Produce is shown at the Veggie Buck Truck, a mobile farmer's market that made its debut Friday, June 3, 2016.

Rosalind Brooks, founder of the Vegas Roots community garden, has a motto when it comes to food: “Just because people can’t afford farmer’s market prices doesn’t mean they don’t deserve it.”

That’s why, flashlight in hand, she was harvesting fully grown vegetables late Thursday night from the five-acre plot in West Las Vegas. The community garden’s bounty, augmented by fresh produce from a local farm, then boarded a truck bound for a parking lot less than a mile away.

Called the Veggie Buck Truck, it’s Brooks’ way of delivering healthy food to low-income seniors and families who may not be able to access it otherwise. The nonprofit community garden received a $3,000 federal grant that funded the purchase of a former U-Haul truck, now wrapped in a colorful advertisement proclaiming its new purpose — essentially, a mobile farmer’s market.

The Veggie Buck Truck’s first stop: a Nevada Welfare Division office at 700 Belrose St.

“There’s no shortage of people who want locally grown food,” Brooks said, as customers circled the tent sheltering fresh produce from the triple-digit heat.

Baskets contained zucchinis ($1 per pound), onions (25 cents each), red potatoes (50 cents per pound), yellow squash ($1 per pound) and kale ($2 per bunch), among other offerings.

The Veggie Buck Truck accepts EBT/SNAP vouchers — cards that contain government benefits for those enrolled in the food-assistance program — to reach the targeted lower-income population. For every $5 spent with an EBT/SNAP card, the customer received $2 back.

“Whenever you have the match benefit, it’s a triple win” because it extends a family’s benefits, provides them with healthy food and spurs other economic activity as a result, said Aurora Buffington, faculty instructor at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

Nearly 4,500 households in ZIP code 89107, where the welfare office sits, are enrolled in SNAP, Buffington said. Neighboring ZIP codes have even more SNAP enrollees, underscoring the need for affordable, high-quality food in that area.

At one point Friday morning, Brooks noticed the acorn squash weren’t selling as quickly as other vegetables — perhaps because people don’t know how to prepare them.

“Can you educate them about acorn squash?” Brooks asked one of the volunteers.

This is how Brooks envisions the mobile market changing food consumption: If people learn how to cook healthy food when they buy it, they’ll be more likely to continue eating it and possibly visit the actual community garden, located on Tonopah Avenue north of U.S. 95.

The concept intrigued Geneva Ruiz, 35, who toted a bag full of snap peas, red and green bell peppers, okra and mint leaves. Total cost: $5

“I’d rather buy locally and organically than buy from the store,” said Ruiz, who happened to see the Veggie Buck Truck while in the neighborhood. On the east side, where she lives, Ruiz said it’s difficult to find affordable, fresh produce.

The Veggie Buck Truck’s next outing is from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. June 13 at the Doolittle Senior Center, 1950 J St.

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