FOOD INSECURITY
HUNGRY MOUTHS Still to Feed
Aaron Burch
A
s 4:30 pm neared, a line started to form outside the
First Unitarian Church atrium in Old Louisville. T
As a light drizzle fell, the group of elderly patrons
waited quietly.
Through the door was a cozy room full of tables
where volunteers prepared produce for the evening’s shoppers.
Grown by local farmers and delivered with an exact number of shop-
pers known in advance, each table was full of just over 80 servings
of a designated fruit or vegetable. Cartons of beautiful purple okra,
bags of peaches and piles of eggplant filled the room. Watermelons
overflowed from their table and rested on the floor nearby.
When the clock struck, the patrons were welcomed in to Old
Louisville’s Fresh Stop Market. One of 18 locations, Fresh Stop
Market contributes to the support of dozens of food-insecure Lou-
isville residents.
More broadly, the Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
Fresh Stop Markets fed 1,800 shareholder families throughout 2017,
and the buy-in continues to grow. The markets are scheduled once
every two weeks from June to October, allowing pre-registered
patrons to pick up delicious produce for a price which meets their
standard of living.
Sarah Dugan is the Administrative Coordinator for New Roots,
Fresh Stop Market’s parent company. Dugan has been on staff for
a year and a half but served as a shareholder and volunteer for
years prior.
“This program is really close to my heart, because it helped me
when I was struggling to feed my son as a single mom,” Dugan ex-
plained. “I didn’t want preservative-laced baby food. I just wanted
healthy vegetables. My son, who is now eight, volunteers with me at
the New Albany market. He’s one of our best vegetable cheerleaders
because if you have a kid standing behind a table and telling you to
eat your okra, how can you say no to that?”