Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, second from right, and School of Medicine student Ravi Patel, right, get ready to address the crowd at the debut of the Nashville Mobile Market. (photo by Anne Rayner)
Student project takes affordable produce to community
About 100 people turned out for the launch of the Nashville Mobile Market last Saturday at the Edgehill Apartments, on 12th Avenue South.
Kareta Owens, right, is helped by Vanderbilt students Alexandra Ernst, left, Priya Chaturvedi and Emily Zern. (photo by Anne Rayner)
The market is housed in a trailer purchased with a donation from the Frist Foundation. (photo by Anne Rayner)
Shoppers like Sunshine Johnson are welcome to write on the trailer a list of items they would like to see added to the Mobile Market. (photo by Anne Rayner)
The project, a collaborative effort between Vanderbilt students and the Edgehill community, is designed to provide healthy, affordable produce in an area of Nashville that has little access to these foods.
Second-year medical student Ravi Patel, worked on a research project based on the concept of bringing produce to the area in a mobile trailer and said the students gained as much from this experience as the community.
A donation from the Frist Foundation allowed for the purchase of a suitable trailer, and the project took shape through the hard work of community members and several Vanderbilt students.
Nashville Mobile Market will run every Friday to Sunday, making stops at Gernert Homes, Youth Life Center parking lot at the Parks at Hillside, Edgehill Apartments Management Office, Edgehill Center and Progressive Baptist Church. Volunteers operate the truck and lead nutrition education.
For more information, go to www.NashvilleMobileMarket.org.