An Interesting Solution To Food Deserts
I happened across freshbag by following the Twitter account for Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Admissions this week. But in fact, I’d heard about this program shortly I stepped of the plane in Cleveland when I was visiting for my interview in last October. I remember being greeted by a large sign boasting that Case was brining fresh produce to impoverished neighborhoods, just one more way that the university was giving back to the larger Cleveland community. freshbag was founded by a Case medical student and aims to deliver fresh, mostly local produce to convenient locations for communities that don’t otherwise have access to grocery stores and the fruits and vegetables they provide.
Several students from Case run freshbag with advice and support of a few area businesses, but ultimately they allow people to order their food online and then pick up their order at a nearby dropoff location. To read more about the logistics of freshbag, check out this Huffington Post feature about freshbag’s founder. According to Ian Wong, the founder, freshbag helps the community on a number of levels – including bring fresh produce into food deserts and supporting the area economically by purchasing from local producers.
Sounds like a pretty great program to me – and as a future medical student, it’s exciting to hear about these kinds of grassroots efforts to address issues of food inequality.
