Green Machine Marks First Anniversary
For immediate release: Tuesday, July 22, 2014, 9 am, CST
Contact: Ken Reordan 607-275-7402
Memphis’ Green Machine Mobile Market celebrates its first anniversary today. Since its launch, the Green Machine has made more than 600 stops providing more than 15,000 low-income Memphians living in so-called food deserts with access to high quality fruits and vegetables.
Each week the brightly colored Green Machine makes 18 stops at public housing projects, senior centers, and recreational facilities throughout the city of Memphis. Offering more than two-dozen healthy food choices provided by Easy-Way Food Stores, the Green Machine provides many Memphians without access to private automobiles with their only access to good foods.
The proposal to create a mobile food market came out of the city-sponsored Choice Neighborhood Planning Project initiated by the Memphis Housing Authority and Division of Housing and Community Development in the Vance Avenue neighborhood. The Green Machine which operates out of a retired MATA bus is managed by the Saint Patrick Community Outreach Inc. – the social justice arm of Saint Patrick Catholic Church. According to Deacon Eugene Champion, Executive Director of Saint Patrick Community Outreach Inc., “The Green Machine is a natural extension of our church’s decades old Food Ministry. It represents our faith community’s latest effort to follow Jesus Christ’s invitation to serve the poor”.
The Green Machine is supported by proceeds generated by the Annual Gibson 5K Race organized each summer by Channel 5’s Joe Birch and more than a dozen area foundations and corporations, including The Assisi Foundation, Community Foundation, Baptist Memorial Health Corporation, Bank of America, FedEX Corporation, The Grizzlies, ServiceMaster, Whole Foods, and Lucero. Partnering with Saint Patrick’s to support the Green Machine’s nutrition and health mission are The Graduate Program in City and Regional Planning at the University of Memphis, MATA, Easy-Way Food Stores, and Healthy Memphis Common Table. “Without the administrative, logistical, and volunteer support provided by these organizations, we could not keep The Green Machine on the road,” stated Deacon Eugene.
In addition to providing low-income residents with healthy and affordable food choices, the Green Machine also offers up-to-date health and wellness information through a series of more than 100 health videos produced by Baptist Hospital and Centers for Disease Control literature highlighting the connection between healthy eating and living. Organizers have recently written a children’s book, entitled “Mattie’s Greatest Ride” to introduce area youth to the importance of good eating and the story of “Mattie’s” transition from a city bus into one of the nation’s most innovative food security efforts.
During the past year, representatives of Saint Patrick’s have provided information on mobile food delivery systems to several other urban communities facing food access problems, including: Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Jonesboro, Prince George’s County (MD), and Marin County (CA). For more information regarding the Green Machine Mobile Food Market, interested parties are invited to visit the project’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/Green Machine.
