Residents Benjamin Goessling and Nicolette Champagne shop at a Groceries on the Go pop-up market at the Desert Palms Apartments on Boulder Highway Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. The market is a pilot program by Just One Project that will allow them to offer food shopping to people living in food deserts.
Monday, Dec. 25, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Nicoletté Champagne and her roommate Benjamin Goessling have lived at the Desert Palms Apartments off Boulder Highway for almost two years.
The complex is surrounded by RV and car dealerships, tire shops, convenience marts and an appliance store. At East Tropicana Avenue is an Albertsons, a store they wish their shopping routine included regular stops at.
They live on Champagne’s Supplemental Security Income, which makes getting fresh, cheap groceries “so hard,” Champagne said.
But thanks to the Groceries-on-the-Go pilot program from the Just One Project, Southern Nevadans living in food deserts like on Boulder Highway may soon have better access to healthier products.
“It’s amazing when people like to think about other people, and I thought nobody thought about people like us,” Champagne said. “It’s nice that (the Just One Project) came here, and it works big-time, it’s cheap and I like it a lot.”
The Just One Project is testing the program that will bring fresh, affordable produce to residents living in identified food deserts through pop-up markets.
Brooke Neubauer, founder and CEO of the Just One Project, said the program aims to “fill the void of food deserts” — or areas that lack stores providing affordable and cheap fruits, vegetables, dairy products, proteins and refrigerated items.
Around 12% of Clark County’s population is food insecure, according to statistics from Three Square Food Bank, another local nonprofit getting food to low-income families.
Lauren Lee, a UNLV graduate, studied food deserts for the Just One Project and is helping them craft the Groceries-on-the-Go program, Neubauer said. They are using the data to identify locations for the Groceries-on-the-Go program, which is in partnership with UnitedHealthcare Health Plan.
Just One Project created a map of food deserts in Clark County using data obtained from the 2022 Food Insecurity Index from the Conduent Healthy Communities Institute, which measures food access alongside economic and household hardship.
The ZIP code 89122, where the Desert Palms Apartments are located, was identified as one of the 144 tracts classified as a high-need food desert, according to the map. Around 14% of the people in the ZIP code are food insecure, according to data from Three Square.
A lack of access to grocery stores, which carry nutritious foods like fresh produce, can greatly affect a person’s health, said Kelly Simonson, president of UnitedHealthcare Health Plan of Nevada Medicaid.
“When you look at stores like Smith’s that has all of those items — the refrigerated items, the dairy, the protein — compared to, like, Dollar General where it’s mostly boxed and canned goods, you’re missing out on those really essential elements of a healthy diet,” Simonson said. “If people are living in a food desert, they do not have access to a grocery store that’s affordable in the area, so it’s important to bring those services to people where they’re living.”
Champagne, who undergoes dialysis treatment three times a week, said she must adhere to a specific diet for her kidney ailments.
Goessling — who is unemployed and looking for a job — takes Champagne to her dialysis appointments and must schedule much of their weeks around her treatment, which can last four hours each time.
Research has shown that 80% of factors that affect a person’s health have been outside of the health care system, Simonson said. These are referred to as social determinants, and include things like inadequate housing, food, transportation and employment.
The Groceries-on-the-Go program seeks to address the social determinants by bringing fresh produce to people for little to no cost.
“Now, we’re combating the food desert because we’re providing food into that neighborhood; then we’re combating transportation issues because we’re bringing it to them, and then we’re combating the price issue, so our stuff is incredibly affordable,” Neubauer said.
It was a cold yet sunny morning Dec. 14 when volunteers with the Just One Project set up baskets full of oranges, apples and potatoes alongside shelves of canned goods, frozen meats and bags of rice for the 100 residents of Desert Palms Apartments.
The frozen chicken nuggets were $3 per pound and pasta cost $2 per bag, while fresh produce was only $1 per pound — comparable with prices at chain grocery stores, but without the hassle of having to commute there and back.
Neubauer said every aspect of the program, from the pricing to the design of their farmers market-esque stand, is intentional. They not only want residents to have access to healthy, affordable food, but also want to make them feel as if they’re getting a quality experience.
“It is incredibly important because we’re really telling communities that food is not a luxury, food is a basic need, and everybody should have access,” Neubauer said. “And if a neighborhood doesn’t have access, the Just One Project is going to step in (and) find a community partner to help fund a project that will fill that gap.”
As Champagne and Goessling headed back to their one-bedroom apartment, they carried bags filled with food — bananas and avocados for Goessling, frozen chicken nuggets and meat for Champagne, along with eggs, milk and cereal.
They had just run out of food the day before, and said they were so thankful for the Just One Project’s help.
“We usually go to Walmart, but it’s expensive because (Champagne) gets food stamps, but it’s not that much … but thank God for (the Just One Project),” Goessling said. “(They) really help out a lot.”
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