Local nonprofit planting a produce stand in North Memphis

We know that fruits and vegetables make bodies strong, but they also have the power to heal communities. Memphis is replete with food deserts or neighborhoods that cannot easily access affordable and good-quality food. One grassroots organization, Cooperative Memphis, is working with a North Memphis community to promote sustainable food systems.

For people who live in this Vance Ave. neighborhood, it takes an average of 40 minutes by bus to get to the nearest grocery store, the Cash Saver on Madison Ave. So Cooperative Memphis is bringing the food to the people.
 
"With the right approach, people have the power to control their own foodways," said Laurel Cannito, Head Organizer at Cooperative Memphis. Last November, she purchased a small plot of empty land from the Shelby County Land Bank. By mid-May, the lot at 475 East Georgia Ave. will be occupied by a R.O.C.K. ("reorganizing our community kitchens") vegetable and fruit stand.
 
Every week, people in the area will be able to place an order for that week's groceries by dropping off a form in a stable box on the property. One option is to order piecemeal items to be sourced from Easy Way Food Stores. Because of Cooperative Memphis' bulk buying power, prices will remain low. For a more consumer-conscious option, people can sign up for a weekly Community Supported Agriculture bag of locally sourced produce from Bring It Food Hub. These bags cost around $10, and Cannito is working to make them available to be purchased with food stamps.  
 
The lot at the corner of E.H. Crump and Georgia will also be an outpost in distributing free CSA bags through Bring It Food Hub's Pay it Forward Program. Through the initiative, people who buy regularly from Bring It Food Hub can pay a little extra to go toward food for low-income households. Cooperative Memphis will distribute the free bags based on a community-level recommendation system.
 
On April 4, Cooperative Memphis hosted an Easter egg hunt on the lot for the community children. People from the surrounding affordable-housing complexes mingled with members and voiced their opinions about neighborhood needs. Cooperative Memphis is very intent on having the neighborhood guide the development of the R.O.C.K. stand, which will hopefully grow into a larger grocery cooperative and offer additional services like cooperative childcare and skill workshops. When the stand is not operating, the lot will be a community park.
 
"We're very against being a helicopter program," Cannito said. "The idea is that by facilitating this and understanding that we as a community can order our food together, we hope to grow into a grocery cooperative. But this is the most natural way we could see to start that."
 
The restaurant across the street, Luster Sundry Grill, is already on board with the program.
 
"Every time they see us out here, they ask, 'When are you getting those greens in?'" Cannito said. The restaurant's needs are informing the planning, which is in step with the vision for a community-guided program. Cabbage, lettuce and tomatoes are on the list for weekly deliveries. And, of course, turnip greens.
 
The R.O.C.K. stands are set up so that they can be easily replicated across the city. Another North Memphis neighborhood, Smokey City, is interested in adding regular food access to the new community center that their neighborhood desperately needs.  

Cannito is looking forward to spreading the word about the R.O.C.K. stand through local canvassing and at Cooperative Memphis' upcoming booth at the Cooper-Young Farmers Market. Within the next month, working board members and service members who donate their time to the organization will be able to sell their goods at the weekly booth.
 
"I can safely say that Cooperative Memphis believes in human capital more than anything else," Cannito said. "As an entirely unfunded nonprofit, we acknowledge that the use of money is a good tool, but ultimately people have power to change the immediate systems that they're in."