A local group is retrofitting a bus to help deliver fresh produce and meats from county farms to people who have difficulty accessing those foods.

The Community Partnership Inc. of Butler is using a $40,000 grant to purchase and renovate the bus, which will deliver products from local farms to three places — including Butler City — that are considered “food deserts” because many residents don’t own vehicles and don’t have access to fresh food.

Plans are for the cart to travel three days a week, spending noon to 6 p.m. each day in a different location. Other stops on the Produce Cart’s route are New Castle and Aliquippa. Additional routes are planned.

On Fridays, any unsold products will be sold at a store the organization will open in a classroom at the former Bruin Elementary School. Community Partnership plans to meet with farmers about buying seasonal produce as well as meat and dairy products from them for the cart.

A food desert, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is an area where residents are more than 10 miles from a full-service grocery store in rural areas and one mile in large cities.

Consumers in food deserts largely rely on packaged, processed and convenience foods instead of fresh foods. This can lead to poor eating habits.

Last September, a Tennessee retailer with stores throughout the county renovated its Chicora store to accommodate residents who have suffered without a grocery store since the borough’s lone, longtime grocery store, Friedman's Freshmarket, closed its doors in 2018.

Dollar General, just south of the borough, became a DG Market, adding fresh meat and produce to its typical array of nonperishable foods, dairy and frozen goods.

In 2020, the United States Department of Agriculture reported that 23.5 million people in the U.S. live in food deserts. In Pennsylvania, 73% of residents who live in a “limited supermarket access” area also live in a low-income area.

A lack of access to fresh, wholesome foods coupled with poor eating habits increasingly are being recognized as major contributing factors to the health of communities. Even more than access to health care or doctors.

Community Partnership is hoping to obtain a grant to hire a nutrition specialist who would demonstrate various ways to cook the products and talk to people about nutrition at the cart stops.

Yes, it’s convenient to grab fast food, but we really need to educate people on fresh options and make those things available to them. We also need to educate them on how to prepare these foods.

Best of luck to the Produce Cart. We are hopeful the program can add routes once it gets up and rolling.

– JGG