Community Action’s Mobile Food Market Brings Groceries Around Duluth

DULUTH, Minn.– In some areas of the Northland, easy access to food can be hard to come by. So, one local organization decided to bring the food to them.

“We’re basically a grocery store on wheels,” said Evan Flom, Program Manager for the Seeds of Success Program at Community Action Duluth.

Community Action Duluth rolled their new mobile food market into Morgan Park for the first time on Friday after stopping in Lincoln Park the previous week.

Funded through grants, Community Action bought a refrigerated van to hold dozens of crates of produce, dairy products, and other grocery essentials.

“We have some local products like eggs and a salad mix that we actually grow ourselves,” said Flom.

Areas around Duluth like Morgan Park are considered a food desert where grocery stores aren’t close by. Which means it can be hard for people to stock their pantries.

And as some people try even harder to put food on the table during the pandemic, organizers say they wanted to bring the food to them.

“When COVID hit, we saw across the country just how tenuous the food supply, the food chain can be,” said Flom. “We know that in Duluth and across the country, there are a lot of neighborhoods that have been under invested in and lack certain resources like a grocery store.”

People can pre-register and pick out their groceries online for easy pick-up or come right to the stand to get some fresh food.

“You might not be able to get every product that you could at a grocery store in town,” said Flom. “But we’re trying to bring enough of a variety that folks can pack as much grocery bags as they want to bring home and fill the refrigerator or the pantry.”

The mobile market will return, making a stop in Lincoln Park March 10.