Oct. 6, 2023

On Tuesday, north Sioux Falls residents may have to travel only a few blocks to stock up on healthy grocery staples. That’s when the Eat Well Sioux Falls Mobile Market will make its debut, just months after its initial conception.

It is designed to bring healthy, affordable food directly to the “food deserts” in the city, those low-income, low-access areas where grocery stores can be more than 15 minutes away and transportation can be a deterrent.

The Mobile Market will launch at two locations Tuesday: 1:45 to 2:30 p.m. at Habitat for Humanity ReStore, 721 E. Amidon St., and 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. at Word of Life Church, 3513 N. 10th Ave. From 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. Thursday, it can be found at the Furniture Mission warehouse, 1829 E. 34th St. N.

The Mobile Market’s shelves will be filled with items such as milk, cereal and peanut butter either purchased from distributors like Prairie Farms Dairy and Feeding South Dakota or donated through partners such as First United Methodist Church, which conducted a food drive among its members.

Mobile Market manager Luke Senst said those contributions can be considered pure profit, although any such “profits” will go directly back to helping feed people in need through the traveling grocery store.

A community coalition led by Sioux Falls Thrive developed the Eat Well Mobile Market program. Other partners include Fair Market/Empower, First United Methodist, First Presbyterian Church, Church on the Street, Augustana Research Institute, Active Generations, Sioux Falls Food Co+op, Feeding South Dakota and Thrive’s Food Security Action Team.

On Friday, partners displayed the Mobile Market, a repurposed vehicle that originally belonged to Feeding South Dakota. The COVID pandemic delayed its use, said CEO Lori Dykstra, but now it will serve as a solution to help families whose resources are being stretched thin. Feeding South Dakota now has a 30-foot mobile distribution truck that will help feed families across the state.

Dykstra called the Mobile Market “a unique solution to a complex problem.”

Having the Mobile Market, which sells healthy foods at a reduced cost, will offer affordability and access to the multiple neighborhoods that have been identified as food deserts, Mayor Paul TenHaken said. Families want to pay for the food they put on their tables, and the dignity people receive by being able to do that should not be underestimated, he said.

The Mobile Market is funded by local contributions and an Eat Well Sioux Falls grant that the city of Sioux Falls Health Department awarded in April.

Thrive will oversee the Mobile Market for its 18- to 24-month pilot project, said Michelle Erpenbach, the nonprofit’s president. It then will hand over the fully functioning grocery store on wheels to another agency.

A survey of residents in the Norton and Froehlich neighborhoods received an amazing 20 percent response rate, said Erin Nosal, an Eat Well Sioux Falls assistant. Another door-to-door survey that will begin Monday is designed to receive further input, she said.

The goal is to receive the answers to three questions: What people want to see for sale in the Mobile Market, where they want it located and what hours they want it to be in operation, Nosal said.

The Mobile Market, which someday could expand to include a second traveling grocery store, needs volunteers to help staff it. People can volunteer by visiting the Eat Well Sioux Falls website, Senst said. People who want to use the Mobile Market also can visit the website for times and locations or follow it on Facebook.

Currently, the Mobile Market does not accept SNAP benefits, but that will change soon, Senst said.

He told the people touring the Mobile Market that it is not his grocery store. Instead, he has been chosen to act as its steward as it begins its mission of bringing healthy food at affordable prices to the 60,000-plus Sioux Falls residents living in food deserts.

With manager hired, Eat Well Sioux Falls Mobile Market nearly ready to roll