The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation has donated $100,000 to fund two mobile grocery markets in the Charlotte and Greensboro, NC, communities. The foundation awarded funding to two organizations to expand operations for their mobile markets, in a pilot project for Food Lion Feeds. The grant recipients are The Bulb in Charlotte and Mobile Oasis in Greensboro. These two grants were awarded in conjunction with the University at Buffalo research team’s Veggie Van project, which studies the long-term impact access to fresh produce has on eating habits and nutrition.
The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation has been studying the work of mobile produce markets as a way to help make a larger impact on food insecurity in the towns and cities Food Lion serves. Earlier this year, members of the foundation attended the mobile produce market summit where they met with the University at Buffalo’s research team and learned of the Veggie Van Project.
“This generous grant from the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation will enable us to increase access to healthy, nutritious food, while also gathering learnings to help inform us moving forward,” said Lucia Leone, assistant professor of community health and health behavior in UB’s School of Health and Health Professions. “We want to know if having these mobile markets in communities that have limited access to fresh produce leads to changes in what people are eating.”
“The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation proudly partners with Food Lion Feeds to fund these two programs in support of our hunger-relief mission,” said Adam Bass, president of the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation. “Not only will this work allow us to bring more healthy food to people in underserved communities in North Carolina, but it will provide important information on whether mobile markets work and in what settings.”
Since its founding, the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation has donated more than $12 million to support hunger-relief and nutrition education programs, including more than $4.7 million to Feeding America member food banks and United Way agencies who are critical partners in ending hunger in the towns and cities Food Lion serves across its 10-state operating area.
