Mobile Market Bus Campaign

Built along the steep shores of Lake Superior, Duluth, Minnesota, is spread out over 72 square miles and has a much lower population density than similarly sized cities. This results in challenging conditions for folks seeking food resources; public transit is infrequent outside of the city core, and many neighborhoods are geographically isolated and lack grocery stores. Up to 32% of households in some of the neighborhoods we serve do not have a vehicle, and 48% of neighbors surveyed in our most recent Community Needs Assessment indicated that food access is a challenge.  

A Community Action Duluth  program Launched in the winter of 2021 as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Mobile Market works to bring food to low-income home-bound folks and community centers in areas of the city with high barriers to food access. Always growing, we currently make 10 stops in 6 unique locations monthly in addition to our delivery route.   

The market has grown each year, and we expect the amount of food moving through the Mobile Market in 2023 to be three times as much as in 2022. We've outgrown our current vehicle both in capacity and the time it takes to continually load and unload hundreds of pounds of food on and off the van at each stop.  

A big part of this growth is due to continuously expanding the number of stops the mobile market makes while simultaneously hosting two weekly farmers markets. A second vehicle will allow us to run the mobile and farmers market contiguously as both programs continue to grow.   

Our vision for a second vehicle is a non-CDL low-floor minibus that is retrofitted with shelves and refrigerators that our customers can board to do their shopping. With the added flexibility of this model, which is more typical of mobile market's nationally, we expect to be able to triple the number of stops we serve monthly and diversify the number of products we carry.  

Although we've raised $67,000 towards the purchase of a bus, we need an additional $20,000 to contend with the post-pandemic market and to meet the costs of retrofitting the bus into a true Mobile Market. By donating, you can help us reach our goal to continue to expand our services in the highest barrier neighborhoods in Duluth.