WEBSTER. Mass. – Sometimes, all it takes to make healthy changes is a question. That’s what Cathleen Liberty, a local health agent, found when she wrote to the owners of several convenience stores located in food deserts about offering fruits and vegetables, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports.

To her surprise, the owners of Gilbert’s Market and Sunnyside Farms agreed to start offering fresh produce by the New Year. Liberty talked Del Ray Doc’s Fruits and Deli, a local store, into selling fresh produce to the convenience stores at a reduced price, so they could in turn price the fruits and vegetables at a reasonable cost to shoppers.

The convenience stores will offer the fresh produce during a six-month trial period to see if customers are willing to buy those items before committing to a longer-term program. To advertise the products, color posters promoting fresh produce consumption will be made available to the convenience stores.

Liberty also will offer residents at a low-income apartment complex near Gilbert’s Market cooking classes on how to prepare tasty and low-cost meals from fresh produce.

“The only way to do [get younger customers and professionals as customers] is to offer something they want — that's healthy, natural foods. It's fruits and vegetables. It's things that they eat every day,” said Peter Deary, who owns Sunnyside Farms. His store has sold a small amount of bananas and oranges for the past year.

Healthy foods are “certainly something that you're seeing evolve in our industry,” said Jeff Lenard, NACS spokesman. Many convenience stores have found success selling bananas and other single serve fruit, such as oranges and apples.