Virtual Supermarket Delivers Groceries to Food Deserts

TakePart   
August 12th, 2010

By Megan Bedard

When Baltimore’s first-ever food czar, Holly Freishtat, was appointed to work alongside the Baltimore City Food Policy Task Force, she had plenty of good ideas: new zoning for urban gardens, food stamp acceptance at farmers markets, and healthier food in corner stores, to name a few.

Her plan for a virtual supermarket took the lead, and is now getting food to people who previously found themselves stranded in “food deserts.”

The virtual supermarket—created through collaboration between the health department, two libraries, and Santoni’s Supermarket—allows Baltimoreans to order groceries online from local library computers and pay in cash, credit, checks or food stamps.

The following day, they can return for their groceries.

Operating at two centrally located libraries, the program makes healthy diet staples available to people who otherwise might be forced to take several buses or walk long distances to reach the nearest grocery store. One location, the Washington Village library, is in an area with 11.8 to 17.9 corner, convenience, or grocery stores per 10,000 residents. The other, the Orleans grocery store, has even fewer markets—just 2.86 to 6.7 markets per 10,000 residents.

The Baltimore City Health department says the convenience of the program will allow residents a wider selection of fruits, veggies, grains and dairy, and will allow fairer prices by cutting out the middleman fee for delivery.

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