FORT MYERS, Fla. — For years, the Harry Chapin Food Bank has fought against food insecurity across southwest Florida.
Their announcement on Wednesday morning addresses the challenge of accessibility to fresh food in the area.
According to Harry Chapin Food Bank Chief Development Officer, Stuart Haniff, in sixty percent of Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry, and Glades counties, people live in food deserts which means there’s limited to no access to fresh food.
Harry Chapin Food Bank announced their new, mobile supermarket, Fresh Force.
It functions as a regular store with shelf items and fridges to store meats and dairy products, so people can easily access fresh products without the obstacle of transportation.
“We have seen one of the biggest barriers our community serves is transportation and mobile distribution doesn’t help anyone if people aren’t able to get to the mobile distribution, and our 170 charities partners are strategically located throughout our five-county footprint, but some people don’t have the ability to access them,” Haniff said.
They said Fresh Force will start at the end of October, but they didn’t release the official date. Also, they said they hope to add more Fresh Force trucks in the future.
