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Mobile Market

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Partner With Us

At The Food Mill, we believe healthy food and hands-on learning should be within reach for every family. That’s where our partners come in. By hosting a Mobile Market stop or a Cooking Matters class, you help us bring fresh, affordable food and practical nutrition skills directly into the heart of the community.

Host a Mobile Market Stop

Do you have a neighborhood, workplace, church, school, or community hub that could benefit from easier access to fresh produce? Partnering as a Mobile Market host means you’re creating a gathering space where neighbors can shop for affordable, locally grown fruits and vegetables, right where they live, work, or learn.

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Host a Cooking Class

Our Cooking Matters classes transform kitchens into classrooms. If your school, church, nonprofit, or workplace can provide a space, we’ll bring the chef, the ingredients, and the know-how. Together, we’ll equip families with the skills to cook healthy meals on a budget and send them home with the fresh produce to make it stick.

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Why Partner?

When you host, you’re doing more than providing a space—you’re helping families build healthier habits, strengthening local food systems, and supporting a more resilient community.

Mobile Market

Cooking Matters

Meeting our community where they are through the Mobile Market

“Thank you so much for your mobile markets. They help me and my family afford to eat more fruits and veggies! We walk to your markets whenever they are close!”

― Jessica Close

How Our Mobile Market Creates Lasting Impact

The Food Mill’s Mobile Market does more than bring fresh, affordable, locally grown produce into underserved neighborhoods—it connects families to the tools they need to make healthy eating part of everyday life. At each stop, we don’t just sell fruits and vegetables.

We also invite participants to join our Cooking Matters program, a six-week hands-on cooking and nutrition course offered in partnership with Open Hand Atlanta. In this class, families and individuals learn practical culinary skills, explore culturally relevant recipes, and gain confidence preparing healthy, affordable meals at home. To make learning stick, participants receive weekly produce bags through our Produce Prescription Program, so they can immediately practice what they learn in class.

Nutrition Education That Lasts

This layered approach—access + education + skills + support—ensures our programs work together to reinforce healthier habits. By combining fresh ingredients from the Mobile Market with cooking education, families leave empowered to create lasting change at home.
We also collaborate with healthcare partners like Piedmont to offer Produce Prescriptions to at-risk patients, helping improve diet quality and reduce preventable hospital visits. And through United Way’s Schools United initiative, we bring Cooking Matters into schools, extending our reach into trusted community spaces where families already gather and learn.
At The Food Mill, we believe food is more than fuel—it’s a foundation for health, family, and community. Our Mobile Market is the first step, opening the door to deeper learning and long-term change.
Girls Inc testimony. We’ve done 4 years of f2s programming and have refocused nutrition education and impelemtning healthy behavior lessons and hands-on cooking schools.

Cooking Matters

Meet Sarah, a hardworking single mother living in an underserved community. Her daily life is a constant juggling act, and at the center of it all is her family's nutrition. Sarah understands the importance of providing her children with balanced, healthy meals, but she faces an uphill battle due to various barriers.

Transportation: Sarah doesn't own a car, and public transportation in her area is limited and unreliable. The nearest grocery store is miles away, and getting there with her two young children in tow is a daunting and exhausting task.

Childcare: Sarah often has to rely on family or friends to watch her children while she goes shopping for groceries. However, this isn't always possible, leaving her with the choice of either bringing her kids to the store, where they may get restless and impatient, or skipping the trip altogether.

Limited Funding: As a low-income earner, Sarah's budget is stretched thin. She carefully allocates her limited funds to cover rent, utilities, and other essentials, leaving little room for nutritious groceries. Fresh fruits and vegetables, in particular, are often considered a luxury she can ill afford.

of our community reports food insecurity

report limited access to Healthy Food.

According to the 2019 Muscogee County Community Health Assessment, Georgia Department of Public Health.

Support

Want to support our Mobile Market program?

Your donation directly supports the costs to run our truck and purchase produce for those without access.

Donate

At The Food Mill,

We understand these burdens and how they affect our community in the short and the long-run. Our Mobile Market seeks to serve as a beacon of hope for families like Sarah's. In collaboration with more than 30 partner organizations, including schools, Girls Inc., and local healthcare providers, our Mobile Market operates a 26-foot refrigerated truck that rolls into neighborhoods like Sarah’s, delivering essential support and fresh food where it’s needed most.

Reliable Access:

The Mobile Market is more than just a truck; it's a lifeline. It brings fresh, local, and affordable produce directly to Sarah's community, eliminating the need for her to travel long distances and overcome transportation barriers.

Affordable Opportunities:

With budget-friendly options, our Mobile Market ensures that nutritious food is accessible without breaking the bank. Sarah can now confidently fill her cart with fruits, vegetables, and wholesome staples.

Accepting SNAP and EBT:

Our commitment to inclusivity means that we accept SNAP and EBT payments. This means that Sarah can use her benefits to purchase nourishing food for her family, ensuring that financial limitations don't stand in the way of a healthy diet.

With The Food Mill and our Mobile Market, Sarah's burden is lightened, and she can focus on what matters most—providing her children with the nutrition they need to grow and thrive. Our mission of preventing and reducing disease in our community means making sure everyone has routine access to local, nutritional food. SNAP benefits are accepted, and customers may purchase produce for double the value through the Georgia Fresh for Less Program, a unique opportunity not made available in traditional stores to encourage healthy eating.

Want to become a site location for our mobile market?

Do you work or live in a community that is nutrition insecure? We’d love to hear from you! Please email Shannon Jefferson at shannonjefferson@thefoodmill.org.

Contact Shannon

The Food Mill, Columbus GA Shannon Jefferson Mobile Market Director