Jamestown Mobile Market Welcomes Food Access Coordinator
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Emily Le Blanc, an Arkansas native who recently moved to the area, has stepped into the job of the Jamestown Mobile Market's food access coordinator.
Le Blanc has always had an interest in food -- keeping a garden throughout her life -- as taught by her parents. Anything extra she planted, she donated to local food pantries and feeding programs. She has also had chickens for the past six years.
"I knew before we moved from Arkansas, even before we knew we were moving to Jamestown, that I wanted to work to increase food access to people who have trouble getting to grocery stores," Le Blanc said. "When we got to Jamestown, neither my husband nor I had jobs. Yes, we knew we were crazy; I tell people it was a God thing. I knew we had to come north, and I knew things were going to be OK. We both have jobs now."
Previously, she spent time in English and education roles.
"I'm a graduate of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, with a degree in English Literature," Le Blanc said. "In college, I did an internship with a local newspaper as a stringer. I spent my early adult life in retail, in both management and employee positions. I was eventually promoted to the Home Office of Stride Rite Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"When I had kids, I was mostly a full-time mom with part-time work. At that point, I did things like being an Education for Ministry Mentor -- a theology program of the Episcopal Church -- sold some of my paintings, occasionally published some writing, and other interesting, but not very profitable work."
Le Blanc said upon arriving in Jamestown last December, she looked around for job openings and heard about the food access coordinator job through attending St Luke's Episcopal Church.
"It seemed too good to be true, and I wasn't sure they'd want me," she said. "I didn't think I was really qualified. I have no real background in distributing food. Fortunately, they disagreed with me. I was hired in March."
As food access coordinator, Le Blanc runs the Community Supported Agriculture at St Luke's, which supports the Mobile Market.
"People buy shares in different sizes, and get produce for about 20 weeks from local farms," she said. "I also run the Community Garden on Lakeview and Sixth Street. In addition, I get to drive the Mobile Market truck when we don't have volunteers who need rides. The truck only has two seats, so our faithful and apparently indestructible volunteer, Mark Carlson, drives the truck and I drive my minivan when we have more than one carless volunteer."
For the Mobile Market, Le Blanc said a lot of the work is done on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
"We meet at the church on Wednesdays at 8 a.m. and drive out to Hidden Valley Farm, an Amish farm to get their produce, then on to an Amish baker, who bakes breads and cookies for us," Le Blanc said. "We then go to Abers Acres, and pick up produce there. At that point, we return to Jamestown to deliver the CSA produce to the volunteers there and then I pick up any volunteers that are going with us -- we have two teenage boys, Aiden Fodor, and Hayden Langford for most of the summer -- and head over to The Resource Center on Second Street."
The Mobile Market sells produce at the Resource Center from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Following that, they're at Prendergast Library from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and the Chautauqua Center from 1-2 p.m.
Thursday mornings are spent in the office, and starting at 12:30 p.m. the truck makes the rounds from Silver Tree Seniors to C.V. Bush Elementary School.
Le Blanc has also helped with grants and other projects for schools.
"I was honored to be able to help finish out the United States Department of Agriculture Farm to Table Grant with C. V. Bush Elementary and Washington Middle School," Le Blanc said. "At Bush, I helped build the edible school garden and did a cooking demonstration at the event the school had to promote the gardens. The kids helped me make salsa. At Washington Middle School, I was allowed to buy a hydroponic Tower Garden for the school, and watched as the students in the Garden Club put it together. At Washington's family event, I did a cooking demonstration next to the Tower Garden, with plenty of student participation. The kids and I made Green Goddess dressing and salsa, with baby carrots for dipping."
Le Blanc has also done cooking demonstrations at Silver Tree Seniors and has many upcoming projects happening later in the summer.
At the Mobile Market they accept cash, cards, SNAP, Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, and Double Up Food Bucks, which is only for fruits and vegetables, and helps reduce the cost of fresh produce for people who are on SNAP.
"About half of our customers are low-income, elderly people," Le Blanc said. "Some of our customers are doing well financially, but the rest of them are what's known as 'working poor,' with low access to transportation and living more than one mile from a grocery store where they can get fresh, healthy produce."
Additionally, Le Blanc said most people do not know that the market is mostly funded through grants and charitable giving, with a commitment to helping local farmers earn a profit, as well as to bringing fresh, local produce to people experiencing food insecurity.
"That belt doesn't really buckle," Le Blanc said. "Because of that, we're truly a non-profit. Most of the time we break even. Occasionally we make a profit, but mostly, we just break even, and sometimes, not even that. In order to do what we do, we're subsidized."
So far, Le Blanc said her favorite part has been everything.
"I love the variety," Le Blanc said. "I love learning new things. I love meeting new people. I especially love having a job that is meaningful and hopeful, one where I can do something substantive to be a positive influence in people's lives."
In the future, Le Blanc hopes to create a new stop in the evening for people who work during the day. In order to do that though, she will need more volunteers.
"I'll need volunteers to help with that, and also ideas on where people would want the Mobile Market to be," Le Blanc said. "That said, not too many people want to volunteer at dinner time, so we'll see what happens."