The residents of the Canfield Green Apartments are always happy when they see the St. Louis Metro Market parked at the entrance to their apartment complex. The St. Louis Metro Market is a bus that has been beautifully converted to a full-service grocery store on wheels.
The Healthy Schools Healthy Communities Initiative, funded by the Missouri Foundation for Health, coupled with St. Louis Metro Market are working to break down barriers in accessing fresh and healthy foods with weekly stops at Canfield Green. It gives the community access to healthy, affordable and culturally relevant foods.
Metro Market is stocked with fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy and bread from local farmers and community gardens. In addition to the groceries, workers and volunteers offer nutritional information and often provide food demonstrations that show customers healthy alternative ways they can prepare the food sold on the bus.
Metro Market began operation in 2015 in the City of St. Louis in a neighborhood that was considered a food desert; that is, residents had little or no access to healthy, affordable foods. In 2017, Metro Market began serving North St. Louis County. Earlier this year Metro Market began visiting Ferguson’s Canfield Green Apartments every Wednesday from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and will continue its regular stops in Canfield Green Apartments until the end of November.
Metro Market also makes monthly stops at The Emerson Family YMCA in North County. That stop is sponsored by Healthy Schools Healthy Communities, in partnership with the Emerson Family YMCA and the Ferguson Councilwoman Ella Jones. The St. Louis Metro Market is an innovative way to restore access to healthy foods and healthy eating.
For more information on St. Louis Metro Market, visit www.stlmetromarket.com.
Phedra Nelson is Community Wellness director of the Emerson Family YMCA.
