Author: Annika

Meet Megan, our new Program Manager!

Blog / Meet Megan, our new Program Manager!
We are excited to have you join us as our seventh(!) full-time employee. What made you want to get involved with Fresh Truck?

I come from an academic background, so research studies are the way I became familiar with the barriers people face to eating healthy and accessing fresh food. As I was working with this information, I wished that I could provide resources and programs for them to tackle these challenges. I started volunteering with Fresh Truck a few months ago and loved what I learned about the shoppers, their cultures, and what they enjoy cooking and eating. The shopping experience at Fresh Truck is unique, and I was excited to help people connect with this valuable resource.

A big part of your role will be designing programs that celebrate food and food culture. What’s a significant memory you have of food?

Eating delicious sweet mangoes in Taiwan with my family. Growing up, my parents and grandparents loved feeding us, so mangoes and other fruits would magically appear in front of us.

What are you excited to bring to the Program Manager position?

I am excited to figure out new ways for the markets better serve our shoppers and provide a great shopping experience. I think it’s amazing that Fresh Truck has generated so much demand across the city, and I want to make sure the shopping experience is as enjoyable as possible for as many people as possible. A big part of my role will be creating strong partnerships with community organizations, bridging cultural gaps, and constantly tweaking our programs to make them better.

You know it’s coming. What’s your best food pun?

Didn’t that cereal expire last week?

Yes, but I shallot it anyway.

Blog / Meet Megan, our new Program Manager!

This is how we roll: Inventory

Blog / This is how we roll: Inventory

Now that Fresh Truck has been on the road for a few years we get a lot of questions about how we make decisions about how to operate the market and design our programs. To answer these questions and many more we are starting a blog series called ‘This is how we roll’. This month we will start with how we decide what food to carry at the market.

Providing Fresh Truck shoppers a consistent variety of high-quality options is an essential part of our mission. We have a mobile operation which means our market drives across Boston in a vehicle with a limited retail display and even smaller storage. Unlike typical a grocery store (or even corner store), we don’t have a back stock area to store food and replenish items when we run out. For these reasons, we are diligent about selecting what we items we stock and how much we need to carry in order to best serve our shoppers.
In general, our inventory decisions are driven by feedback from our shoppers and the sales data we collect on a daily basis, but we there are also a few key insights that we consider:

  • Affordability – Can we offer this item at a price point that is accessible to our shoppers?
    • We choose to sell our food at the wholesale price we buy it for. This keeps our prices low and reduces barriers for families seeking out healthy, affordable food options.
    • Produce prices fluctuate with the season. Items like avocados, berries, and corn have short or inconsistent growing season can double or triple in price at different times of the year. Larger grocery operations are able to contract buy these products resulting in more stable pricing, but we will only carry them if they provide good value to our shoppers.
  • Nutritional value – Does this item provide nutritional value? Is it something we should eat more of?
    • We are always looking to carry fresh and culturally relevant food items that are delicious and provide the nutrients that we all need to lead healthy lives. However, it is not always a zero-sum equation that leads us to a strict definition of what is ‘healthiest’. We often provide options that meet people where they’re at when it comes to how they shop, cook and eat.
    • Late last summer we installed a refrigerator on the bus and were able to begin testing new items. One interesting outcome was carrying sparkling water. While it is not very nutrient dense it was really well received by our shoppers who were working to cut down on their soda consumption.
  • Space constraints – Does it take up a lot of space?
    • Space is more of a zero-sum equation. If we carry one item that takes up a lot of space it often means we have to discontinue another item to make room.
    • Watermelon is an item we get a lot of requests for. Carrying whole watermelons takes up so much space! To store enough watermelons we have to remove 2-3 items in its place. With our refrigerator, we hope to pilot pre-cut melons, which can save a lot of space, and provide a more convenient option for our shoppers.

 

Have another question about Fresh Truck and how our programs work? Leave it in the comments!

Blog / This is how we roll: Inventory

Sign up to volunteer with Fresh Truck!

Blog / Sign up to volunteer with Fresh Truck!

Fresh Truck is a nonprofit mobile food market working to radically impact community health by getting food to people that need it the most. Fresh Truck volunteers engage with customers, bag and restock items on the bus, as well as assist in clean up at the end. If you help us out, we’ll send you home with a free bag of groceries!

 

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required



()
–

(###) ###-####

I speak:


Take a look at available opportunities!



Blog / Sign up to volunteer with Fresh Truck!

November Community Beet: Mo R.

Blog / November Community Beet: Mo R.

This month, we wanted to bring you to the South End Community Health Center which is one of our busiest weekly market locations. Our partnership with the health center nutritionists, clinicians, staff, and outreach workers has been critical to our success in the neighborhood. With the demand for FreshRx and the new Healthy Incentives Program, we’ve had to open an additional stop every Monday.

Monnique or ‘Mo’ as she likes to be called, has been a long-time advocate for Fresh Truck in the neighborhood. “Two years ago I was 260 lbs and now I’m down to 189. Since then, I’ve been eating right, and just decided to take my health a lot more seriously. I experienced a lot of pain and aching happening in my body, and when I started to lose weight the pain started going away. ” Since she started shopping with Fresh Truck, Mo has been incorporating fruits and vegetables into every meal she eats. Even during the holidays, Mo is finding ways of championing her new eating habits. “As long as I stay under 191 I live pain-free and am happy. I started developing muscle and working out too so that I wouldn’t get too skinny now!”

Mo is a community figure and big personality in South End. “My place is like a little landmark in the community. I turned my plot into a little sitting area, everyone who walks by knows me and my dog. I even bring my TV out here in the summer and chill with the neighborhood.” Mo has been living in the South End for decades and is a regular shopper on Fresh Truck, in addition, she is also an advocate and ambassador for her community. Whenever there is a new resource in the neighborhood, she is one of the first people to know about it and spread the word.

“The impact of Fresh Truck on the community has been positive across the board, which is why I spend my time out here telling everyone about Fresh Truck. I’m even happier that it’s two days a week now. Now with the HIP Program, the savings have been even greater.” The Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) offers customers with SNAP benefits the option to purchase $40-$80 worth of fruits and vegetables (depending on their household size) automatically reimbursed into their cards each month. By expanding the purchasing power of our shoppers, this program has enabled many folks to incorporate more produce into their diets. We are excited to be able to offer this resource to our shoppers at the Fresh Truck.

We are so thankful for Monnique’s advocacy for Fresh Truck and her excitement about sharing healthy habits with her neighbors.  Without community partners and ambassadors like Mo, help us make each market stronger and further our impact in neighborhoods across Boston.

 

Fresh Truck reaches hundreds of Boston families and individuals every week. Whether it’s through our Pop-Up Events, Weekly Market, or FreshRx Program we provide fresh food that ends up in the cabinets, refrigerators and dinner plates of communities across the city. Fresh Truck becomes a part of our neighborhoods, we know our customers and their stories and they know ours. Which is why we are excited to start ‘Fresh Truck Community Beet’ to share and celebrate the incredible stories of food, health, and community that we hear every day.

Blog / November Community Beet: Mo R.

Meet Nikki! Our newest Market Manager

Blog / Meet Nikki! Our newest Market Manager

We’re excited to welcome you as our newest Market Manager on the team. What initially drew you to the Fresh Truck?

For the last 10 years, I have been very interested in the restructuring of our food system in a way creates equitable access to whole, healthy food across the board. I believe that organizations like Fresh Truck have an important role to play in this restructuring by thinking out of the box and proving that alternative models are viable.

As community health advocates, Fresh Truck is interested in not only celebrating food culture but also cultivating stories surrounding food. Tell us about one of your fondest food memories?

Every New Year’s Eve I get together with my family to ring in the new year and share a bounty of handmade tamales with my aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, and friends. We get together the day before to prepare the hundreds of tamales and sit with my aunts at a table assembling each down a production line. My Tia always complains that my cousin puts too much masa in the ones that she makes and picks them out of the pile, arguing with her daughter about whether or not a particular one is good enough. When we get together the next day we have a bounty of tamales, champurrado, refried beans, and rice that we share while waiting for midnight to strike. There is always enough for everyone to take home leftovers and I always look forward to having leftover tamales with a fried egg for breakfast that first week of January. It is one of the days I look enjoy most every year and I wouldn’t trade those memories for the world.

Being a Market Manager is a tough but rewarding job. What are you most excited to bring to Fresh Truck?

My commitment to helping people and positive attitude has always helped me continue on through the adversity inherent in this line of work. When it seems like something is impossible and the odds are stacked heavily against us, all we can do is continue to do the right thing and have faith that everything will work out.

We love a good food pun, give us your best one!

What does the caffeine addict say to his coffee every morning?

“I love you a latte.”

Blog / Meet Nikki! Our newest Market Manager

Fresh Truck Community Beet: Cathy Sisto

Blog / Fresh Truck Community Beet: Cathy Sisto

Fresh Truck reaches hundreds of Boston families and individuals every week. Whether it’s through our Pop-Up Events, Weekly Market, or FreshRx Program we provide fresh food that ends up in the cabinets, refrigerators and dinner plates of communities across the city. Fresh Truck becomes a part of our neighborhoods, we know our customers and their stories and they know ours. Which is why we are excited to start ‘Fresh Truck Community Beet’ to share and celebrate the incredible stories of food, health, and community that we hear every day.

For our first ‘beet’, we are focusing on our Hyde Park weekly market stop at 1137 River Street in front of the Thomas M. Menino YMCA. This location was developed in partnership with Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital’s Community Health and Wellness department and is one of our first FreshRx food prescription locations. Every Thursday we are joined by nutritionist Allie Lang RD who prepares healthy recipe samples and provides nutrition information to patients as they shop.

When we pull up in front of the YMCA at 3:OO every Thursday Cathy Sisto is always one of the first customers waiting for the market to open. She is a Quincy resident and has lived in the Boston area for nearly her entire life. Cathy isn’t just shopping for herself she regularly shops for her friend Mary, who is on oxygen and is unable to drive or visit a grocery store.

Cathy and Mary have been friends for over 4O years,  so when Mary became sick it was a given that Cathy would be helping out because they think of each other as family. When our FreshRx Program with Brigham Women’s Faulkner Hospital started up in Hyde Park, Mary was one of the many patients who received $10 a week to spend at the mobile market. Cathy began shopping for Mary to take advantage of the opportunity to not only get food every week but also find innovative ways of preparing food to support a healthy lifestyle.

“Fresh Truck has changed our way of eating, we have been cooking more healthy food and it’s more affordable than you’d expect. For $1O dollars you get a lot of stuff and it lasts very long. I like it because it is easy to move down the aisles and its close to parking, making it so easy to transport my groceries after. And I’ve never brought home anything that was bad or spoiled!” – Cathy

When it comes to her favorite produce items to purchase and cook from on the Fresh Tuck she says, “The fresh carrots. Nothing like fresh carrots. They are always expensive in the grocery store. I often cook for Mary because she cannot cook, and I like to make zucchini & summer squash with a little olive oil, garlic,  onions, with salt and pepper.” Cathy also chats with BWFH nutritionist Allie on Thursdays and enjoys the recipes and samples, “I tried the chickpea dill-lemon salad that the nutritionist made, I liked it so I took home the recipe and made it for Mary and she really liked it. It was delicious.” 

Cathy & Mary’s relationship with Fresh Truck and the impact the market has on their life is an incredible example of the stories that fuel us every day!

Blog / Fresh Truck Community Beet: Cathy Sisto

Freshest in Boston 2017

Blog / Freshest in Boston 2017

On September 18th we hosted ‘Freshest in Boston’ our first annual fundraising event, celebrating food, health and the city of Boston. Guests enjoyed locally inspired eats, sips, and sweets while experiencing what fresh food means to our communities.

Nic Jammet, Co-Founder of sweetgreen, joined us to announce our partnership and unveil the renovations we made to our mobile market.
The pre-reception included rooftop drinks and games for sponsors and their guests.
Tours of our newly renovated mobile market vehicle from Sunny, Fresh Truck COO.
Nate Solder, Fresh Truck Board Member, and Patriots Offensive Lineman had several of his teammates out to celebrate.

 

Check out the full album of Freshest in Boston photos here.

 

We also want to extend a big thank you to the freshest sponsors in Boston for their generous support of our mission!

Blog / Freshest in Boston 2017

Fresh Truck x Freedom Schools

Blog / Fresh Truck x Freedom Schools

With the summer coming to a close we are excited to share one of the programs that is close to our heart. Freedom Schools is a reading literacy summer program implemented in communities across the U.S.A. where there exist gaps in access to quality academic programming. Originating from the civil rights movement of the South, Freedom Schools started with the intention to organize African Americans in seeking social, economic, and political equality in the U.S. through education as well as literacy programs for all. Today, thanks to the passion, development, and hard work of Cathy Draine and Mayra Leith the Freedom Schools summer camp in Boston has been expanded to include programming related to financial literacy, restorative community justice, as well as food and cooking literacy for the entire family. We couldn’t have been more excited to partner with the Freedom Schools and to have the annual opportunity to engage deeper and more directly with families and their communities about food culture and community health.

Fresh Truck’s involvement in the program is rooted in weekly inter-generational cooking demonstrations hosted by elders in the Grove Hall community.  Every Wednesday evening over the 6-week program Freedom Schools Scholars and their families would gather for a potluck and cooking demonstration. We provided fresh ingredients for the host to prepare their recipe in front of the group. After the presentation kids and their parents would receive $10 to pick out ingredients from the demo and any of their other fresh favorites. This programming created engaging touch points around food and health while celebrating healthy food culture and traditions within the Grove Hall community.

Over the 6 weeks, we had many memorable moments with Scholars and their families. Miss Mayra’s mother and husband cooked traditional Cape Verdean food and showed us the importance that role models have in  keeping traditional food & cooking culture alive. Identifying these folks not only helped us learn more about the different fruits and veggies that the Roxbury community enjoys but also about how people use food to pass down their heritage and knowledge to the next generation. This way we could not only share knowledge on healthy eating but also restorative community power that will uplift the intersectional cultural realities we all live within.

During the smoothie demonstration Scholars were able to participate in preparing and blending their own drinks. Throughout all the demonstrations Scholars were encouraged to try new things. With their smoothies, they were able to try new and different combinations, including green smoothies. Which to their surprise still tasted great! Getting them involved and learning with their hands and taste buds empowered the Scholars to understand more about their diets, bodies, and nutrition. Parents also reported having an easier time getting them to eat healthily and be involved in their food preparation at home.

Our work with Freedom Schools is a fun and rewarding part of our summer each and every year. Over 6 weeks we are able to engage deeply with Scholars, families and Freedom School staff in order to meaningfully support their programs. We want to give specials thanks to MassHousing for their annual support and enthusiasm for our work with Freedom Schools. We also want to extend our gratitude to Miss Mayra, Miss Cathy and entire the Freedom Schools staff and parents council for their hard work and dedication to making this incredible program happen.

Blog / Fresh Truck x Freedom Schools

HIP HIP Hooray!

Blog / HIP HIP Hooray!

Fresh Truck’s mission has always been to radically impact community health by getting food to the people that need it most, which iswhy we are excited to be an approved Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) Retailer. According to the official HIP announcement under the Mass Grow Initiative, “The Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) matches your SNAP purchases of local fruits and vegetables when shopping at farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share programs.” HIP is not only the first program of its kind for SNAP recipients, but also to the state of Massachusetts. Its objective is to specifically support local businesses and farmers as well as reduce the economic constraints that limit low-income people from purchasing fresh produce.

Here is how it works: HIP enables SNAP customers on Fresh Truck to be automatically reimbursed on their EBT cards for all purchases of fruits and vegetables. All SNAP recipients are automatically enrolled in the program and due to the online systems, all reimbursements happen immediately after the purchase. The monthly amount available for reimbursement varies based upon household size and can be summarized as follows:

 

1-2 persons $4O household cap
3-5 persons $6O household cap
6+ persons $8O household cap

With the addition of the Healthy Incentives Program, Fresh Truck will be able to continue to increase access and affordability of fresh food to more Boston families. The program is currently up and running at all of our year-round 14 weekly stops across the city. We are incredibly excited to make this incredible resource available to our families!

For more information about HIP please visit the official information page. 

 


En Espanol

La misión de Fresh Truck siempre ha sido impactar radicalmente la salud de la comunidad al conseguir comida para las personas que más lo necesitan. Por esta razón, estamos muy contentos de anunciar nuestra certificación como uno de los primeros  vendedores de Healthy Incentives Program (HIP). Según el anuncio oficial de HIP en el marco de Mass Grow Initiative  “HIP coincide con sus compras SNAP de frutas y verduras locales al comprar en mercados de agricultores, . “HIP no solo es el primer programa de su tipo para los receptores de SNAP, sino también para el estado de Massachusetts, y parece ser un ejemplo para el resto de los Estados Unidos. Su objetivo es apoyar específicamente a las empresas locales y las agricultoras, así como incentivar a la gente a comer productos frescos y locales

 

Así  es como funciona. HIP permite a nuestros clientes de SNAP ser reembolsados automáticamente en sus tarjetas EBT para todas las compras de productos fabricados en el Fresh Truck. No hay que registrarse para ser elegible, ya que todos los destinatarios de SNAP se inscriben automáticamente en el programa, y ya que nuestros sistemas están en línea, todos los reembolsos se realizan inmediatamente después de la compra.

Hay que gastar tus dólares de HIP, porque no se deshacen, aunque los reembolsos permanezcan en tu cuenta hasta el próximo mes. Así que es como conseguir dinero gratis para gastar principalmente en los mercados locales de alimentos mensualmente!

 La cantidad mensual disponible para el reembolso varía según el tamaño del hogar y se puede ver aquí en corto:

1-2 personas $ 4O limite mensual de casa
3-5 personas $ 6O limite mensual de casa
6+ personas $ 😯 limite mensual de casa

Ahora que tenemos  nuestros sistemas en línea, también seremos capaces de servir a nuestra comunidad,  dándoles uno de los únicos puntos de acceso móviles que lleva HIP en una base de todo el año a 14 paradas semanales en Boston. Estamos muy emocionados de agregar otro punto  a nuestro modelo que nos permite entregar los alimentos más frescos a todas las comunidades que siguen liderando el crecimiento de Fresh Truck una bolsa de productos deliciosos a la vez!
Para obtener más información sobre HIP, visite la página de información oficial

Blog / HIP HIP Hooray!