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Source: The Lima News, OhioSept.文件倉 18--LIMA -- The desert is about to get a little greener.Government officials, buisness leaders, and members of the community gathered in the parking lot at Lima Senior High School to dedicate a new mobile produce market designed to bring fresh fruits and vegetables to what have been designated as "food deserts" by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, areas where, because of poverty and other contributing factors, residents do not have consistent access to healthy foods. Several of these food deserts have been identified here in Allen County.Part of the Activate Allen County campaign and under the auspices of the West Ohio Food Bank, the Mobile Produce Market is a bus retrofitted to store fresh fruits and vegetables and transport them to areas of need in Allen County. Donated by the Lima/Allen County Regional Transit Authority, this bus has no seats, but rather has racks filled with produce, much like one would find at an outdoor market.But why can't people simply go to Wal-Mart, Chief, or one of the other grocery stores in the community?"If you don't have a car or the means to get to Wal-Mart, you can't get fresh produce," according to Jennifer Niese, Human Resource Manager for Lima's PCS Nitrogen Plant, a division of PotashCorp. Desiring to get this project off the ground, PotashCorp added to the several grants awarded to this project by various organizations by donating $100,000 total to the Mobile Produce Market and the West Ohio Food Bank. Part of those funds, according to Gary Bright, executive director of the food bank, will be used to hire a full-time coordinator for the mobile market, ensuring that it will reach as many needy areas as possible.For Niese and PotashCorp, supporting this endeavor fit right into their goals as a company."The food ban存倉 and the mobile produce unit fit really well with what we do," she said. "A large portion of our business is producing fertilizer. We try to be involved in the areas of food and food development, so this fits right into our philosophy."While PotashCorp has taken the role of a leader in corporate sponsorship, making the Mobile Produce Market a reality was a true community effort, with involvement from city government as well as Apollo Career Center. According to Doug Bodey, Director of High School Programs at Apollo, students from a variety of programs played a part in designing and constructing this produce market."We began with our Computer-Aided Drafting program to come up with some 3D plans," he said, "and we had our carpentry program build frames how it would all be put together. From there, we went to the welding and the Manufacturing Engineering Technology class, and they fabricated all the racks. The auto body students stepped up four days before the end of classes and painted all the racks black. The number of students touched by this project was in the hundreds."As well as seeing the new bus, participants got to partake in a healthy meal served by culinary students from both Apollo and Lima Senior High School, and cooked by Bryant Terry, an eco chef and food justice activist who has earned multiple awards for food education and social change.As this bus starts taking its wares throughout the county, starting Oct. 1, it will be the culmination of the years of effort to see a healthier Allen County. Pastor Dennis Ward of Second Baptist Church summed it up in his prayer of dedication:"I pray this will be a blessing to the community."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Lima News (Lima, Ohio) Visit The Lima News (Lima, Ohio) at .limaohio.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉