OU students starting nonprofit grocery store to bring healthy food to low-income areas

Students at the OU Health Sciences Center are starting a nonprofit mobile grocery store to provide healthy food to low-income areas.

The OKC Mobile Market aims to provide a sustainable source of healthy and quality foods for areas of Oklahoma City where healthy food options are scarce, according to a press release.

The mobile grocery store will carry fruits, vegetables, lean meats, low fat dairy and shelf stable foods to Oklahoma City communities that are furthest from grocery stores, according to the release.

The mobile food market still is undergoing research as surveyors are looking at areas of Oklahoma City where they will want to target with the mobile grocery store, said Lauren Nichols, public relations co-chair for the OKC Mobile Market.

The OKC Mobile Market is a branch of the National Mobile Market that started in Nashville in 2011, Nichols said.

The national market is a mobile grocery store that provides access to affordable, healthy food in areas with limited food options for a healthy diet, according to a press release.

The students are looking at some low-income neighborhoods around the OU Health Sciences Center and the capital where the closest food options come from convenience stores that don’t offer healthy food.

“We’re trying to make that better and offer [healthy food] to them because they don’t have transportation to get to Homeland,” Nichols said.

Within the next year, the group will be able to finish development and launch the mobile grocery store, Nichols said.

Arianna Pickard

Arianna is a former staff member of The Oklahoma Daily who worked as Campus Reporter and Campus Editor.