Columbia hopes to turn old busses into mobile food markets

The town is looking for citizen input intended for how to approach the issue. COLUMBIA, Ersus. C. — Imagine needing to choose between gas and household goods because you have to travel almost 10 miles to get to the particular nearest grocery store. “I grocery store shop three times a week. Household goods are so high nowadays; you are able to only buy enough for 2 days or three times, ” Columbia resident Derek Johnson said. “It requires me approximately 15 in order to 20 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store, ” this individual said. Unfortunately, for many people within the Midlands, this is reality. “We have to go so far to obtain groceries and stuff like that will. It would be a real convenience in order to come right down the street, Columbia resident Annie Mering mentioned. “If we stay on this particular side of town, we need to go that way to the some other side. ” After nearly five years of planning, the Columbia Community Development committee any step closer to putting the plan for food insecurity in to action. According to Columbia Town Council Member Tina Herbert, this issue could have a solution quickly. “We’re about to what I call it up put the RFP out on the road, which is the request for plans, and we’re giving individuals the opportunity to be able to submit ideas, ” she said. The town of Columbia is aiming to turn old-school buses in to food markets. “We really want the mobile market but we are open to other solutions, inch Herbert said. “This procedure has taken quite a while, like you mentioned, it’s taken years. We are just really excited we now have the ARPA funding to really fund it. ” The concept originally came from Charleston, exactly where during the pandemic, the city delivered school buses that were changed into mobile food markets. While Columbia will likely only have one coach, it will travel from scoot code to zip program code each week to provide fresh generate for community members. The particular project will serve the particular zip codes considered food deserts in Columbia. City authorities is looking to accept neighborhood input as soon as the next local community development meeting on Feb 7th.