Two years ago, we told you about how a mobile market, also known as a cart, was about to grow into a mobile food truck called the West Philadelphia Fresh Food Hub. This truck travels along Lancaster Avenue through parts of West Philly, bringing fresh vegetables to local residents who previously had far less access to a quality selection of eggplant, yams, and so forth.

Or this stuff too. Image from West Philly Fresh Food Hub Facebook Page.

Now, the Fresh Food Hub plans to expand its operations to other neighborhoods in the city in need of improved access to better food. As of August of this year, the Fresh food Hub had generated $30K to the local economy, and distributed more than 15 tons of fruits and vegetables to more than 1,500 families since it launched in April 2012.

The truck. Image from West Philly Fresh Food Hub Facebook Page.

To help boost the expansion, co-founder Ryan Kuck launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $9,773. Thus far $10,103 has been raised, so the goal has already been meet with another two days left to contribute. Right now, the Food Hub is identifying senior centers in North and South Philadelphia with help from the Philadelphia Corporation for the Aging. Seniors typically are less mobile and could benefit from the mobile food hub’s resources. Because it is part of Greensgrow, which buys produce in bulk, the Fresh Food Hub is able to keep their prices down. They also offer additional grocery items like fresh bread.

The truck is off, heading to your neighborhood? Image from West Philly Fresh Food Hub Facebook Page.

“It compliments our model of being more a corner store than a farm stand,” said Kuck. He said Fresh Food Hub was launched with a three-year plan and now was the time to up the game and expand.

The Fresh Food Hub grew out of a volunteer initiative of Preston’s Paradise, a growing and self-reliance organization in the Mantua and Belmont neighborhoods that supports neighborhood gardens by providing tools and resources. From there, the team worked with youth-run farms through the Urban Nutrition Initiative to launch the mobile market in 2007.

If you would like to support the continuing efforts of the West Philly Fresh Food Hub, click here to donate to their Kickstarter campaign. Or else you can just visit the cart, probably coming soon to an area closer to you!

–Lou Mancinelli