All Faiths Food Bank Opening Free Community Market In Sarasota

SARASOTA, FL — A free community market is opening its doors in the heart of Newtown, in an area known as a food desert, on Tuesday, bringing access to fresh, nutritious food to residents, Nelle S. Miller, president and CEO, of All Faiths Food Bank, told Patch.

“It’s traditionally a very inequitable part of this community,” she said.

Margie’s Market, a choice-style model of food distribution, is a pilot program launched by All Faiths Food Bank. As the concept is tested and refined, it has the potential to expand into other neighborhoods in Sarasota and DeSoto counties.

The program’s first year is funded through an approximately $701,000 grant from Charles & Margery Brancik Foundation. The organization is working to secure funding for the store for its first three years.

The market is located inside Goodwill Manasota's Job Connection Center at 1781 Dr. Martin Luther King Way.

Miller sat on the All Faiths’ board for a number of years before being hired as CEO about three years ago.

This role change allowed her to get out into the community more. With a focus on Newtown, she began regularly sitting in the park there and chatting with community leaders.

“I wanted to figure out what people there could use in terms of help without me saying, ‘How can I help you?’ I found myself saying, ‘How don’t I help you?’” she said. “Agency, choice, cultural sensitivity, and hours and proximity were really the core issues that they had with us.”

This feedback led to the creation of the Margie’s Market concept.

“We listened to our neighbors. They want to be able to walk in and feel like they’re treated in dignified ways, like human beings, and that they had a choice,” Miller said.

The partnership with Goodwill allowed them to move ahead with the project. The job center only used a small portion of the building, leaving much of it, about 80 percent, empty.

“So, we’re renting from Goodwill the majority of the space there and have set up what looks like a beautiful, small market,” she said.

Goodwill will continue to help people find work from its portion of the building and All Faiths will bring in other partners, from legal aid services to tax assistance, to operate from additional unused office space.

“We have the hook; we have the food,” Miller said. “People will come in for food and we’ll talk to them, ‘Do you know we help with SNAP [benefits]? Do you know we help with tax returns?’ And connect them with the help they need.

The market will focus on healthy foods, all available to the community at no cost, she said. “To begin with, we’ll be heavy on produce, protein, and dairy, and shelf-stable food.”

Those running the market will also focus on the community’s needs.

“So, we’ll have foods that people in the community eat. They’ll be able to come out with groceries they can go home and cook with,” Miller said.

She added, “We’re just very grateful to be building the trust in this part of the community. It’s a vital part of our community and a rich part of our community. Deep as in cultural and artistic and its history, and it deserves equity; it deserves what it deserves.”

See Also:

• St. Pete Woman Transforms Tropicana Field's Hurricane Roof Debris Into Art
• Manatee County Park Expansion Named In Honor Of Late Commissioner Felts
• FL Church Members Escape Mideast War With Help From Tampa’s Grey Bull Rescue
• Vintage Trailer Park-Themed Bar Opening Soon In Downtown St. Pete
• $65M Expansion Planned At Dali Museum In Downtown St. Pete