RALEIGH, NC – Convenience store owner David Rizik, who operates Mark’s Food Mart in Greenville, N.C., has been leading the charge to get healthier food in area convenience stores, the News Observer reports.
Working with Diana Vetter-Craft, a community transformation official, Rizik appealed to state lawmakers and the House Committee on Food Desert Zones earlier this year, who have been studying the issue of food deserts.
Convenience stores across the state have formed an informal healthy corner store project, using grants funded by the Centers for Disease Control. In North Carolina, $7.4 million had been allocated per year over five years for projects that promote healthy eating, active living, tobacco-free living and working with doctors to improve services for patients who smoke or have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. However, the federal grants were discontinued after three years and will end this fall.
Grant workers have met with mixed success working with corner stores in North Carolina. In Rizik’s store, Vetter-Craft used grant funding to purchase a $5,200 cooler that can store fresh produce, along with a shelf to display bananas, potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions.
Rizik has used a trial-and-error approach to refine selling produce. He said individual servings portioned out in clear clamshells work best. He purchases produce from local farmers as well as a nearby warehouse store. He has also added whole grain bread and low-fat milk to his store’s offerings.
Not all grant workers have experienced success, though. Some are limited by staff that is untrained in working with fresh produce.
Travis Greer, a community transformation grant worker in Robeson County, said they ran a two-month pilot program at a convenience store in Atkinson with Feast Down East, an entity that distributes food from local farmers in southeast North Carolina. When a Feast Down East employee ordered and setup the produce, Greer said, it sold well. However, once the workload shifted to the store’s staff, the program’s success suffered.
Melissa Rogan, who works with Feast Down East, said store owners could be persuaded to do more: “If there was some type of incentive for encouraging store owners to participate, I think we would see a giant increase in the number of stores willing to offer fresh food.”
Meanwhile, Erin Bayer, a project coordinator for the grant program managed by the Cabarrus Health Alliance northeast of Charlotte, said the program resonates among locals and stands a strong chance of succeeding.
“I think it is something that will continue to flourish regardless of the funding,” Bayer said. “You cannot put farmers markets everywhere. You have to meet people where they are already going.”