Chris Wolff, a nutrition specialist with Community Partnership, bags a customer’s groceries at the Produce Cart farmer’s market on Wednesday, June 11, outside the Butler Area Public Library. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
Morgan Phillips
A rolling farmers market will be at several Butler County locales over the summer selling fresh produce and other products to people in places close to where they live.
The Produce Cart is a program by Community Partnership, a community action nonprofit, which aims to provide fresh food to places that lack access to grocery stores. The cart rolled to the Butler Area Public Library on Wednesday, June 11, where its staff also set up a mobile market with fruits and vegetables for people to browse.
Chris Wolff, a nutrition specialist with Community Partnership, said the foods on the cart were either donated or purchased by the nonprofit, all from local sources.
“The whole program is to get produce to people, bulk produce, where they might not have it, and staying as local as possible,” Wolff said.
The Produce Cart is scheduled to be at the New Castle Public Library from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, June 17; the Butler Area Public Library from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, June 25; the AO Market, at 937 East Jefferson St. in Butler, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Friday, June 27; the B.F. Jones Memorial Library in Aliquippa from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, June 18; and the Petrolia Farmer’s Market from 3 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 26.
Amber Angert, mobile market coordinator for Community Partnership, sat under the market tent Wednesday where she rung up orders and provided information on the food available. She also laid out recipe cards, which were available for people to take alongside whatever produce they bought from the market.
The unusual presence of fruit in the city of Butler was the point of Wednesday’s visit, and each visit by the cart, according to Angert.
“A lot of our goal is to introduce new foods to people, things that are not common in the Butler area,” Angert said. “Getting kids introduced is a push too.”
Sandra Curry, executive director of Community Partnership, said many residents within Butler’s city limits don’t have easy access to fresh produce — she commented that the situation would be even worse with the closing of Rite Aid on Main Street.
“There’s just this and the Dollar General,” Curry said of Butler’s Main Street.
Community Partnership also facilitated a donation of 100 Keurig coffee pods from the Butler Coffee Lab to the Butler library on Wednesday, which, Curry said, was to provide another free resource to people visiting the library.
Brenda Sanders fills her basket with produce at the Produce Cart farmer's market Wednesday, June 11, outside the Butler Area Public Library. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
Morgan Phillips
Vegetables are lined up for customers, as seen on Wednesday, June 11, through the back of the Produce Cart outside the Butler Area Public Library. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
Morgan Phillips
Chris Wolff, a nutrition specialist with Community Partnership, checks out a customer at the Produce Cart farmer's market on Wednesday, June 11, outside the Butler Area Public Library. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
Morgan Phillips
Customers wait to get checked out at the Produce Cart farmer's market on Wednesday, June 11, outside the Butler Area Public Library. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
Morgan Phillips
From left, Amber Angert, mobile market coordinator; Dianne McCauley, adult program coordinator at Butler Area Public Library; Mason Menell, with the Butler Coffee Lab; Sandra Curry, executive director of Community Partnership; Luke Gilligan, director of the Butler Coffee Lab; and Gretchen Heavner, social media coordinator with the Butler Coffee Lab, pose for a picture at the coffee area in the library on Wednesday, June 11, after coffee was donated by Butler Coffee Lab and Community Partnership. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle
Morgan Phillips
