GreenWheel Food Hub is a social enterprise with a mission to help Hawaii's residents, especially those in low-income communities, gain better access to fresh locally grown food.
The Problem:
According to the State of Hawaii Dept. of Human Services, in 2011, 154,496 individuals in the State of Hawaii received food stamp benefits from the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP]. However, on the island of Oahu, very few farmer's markets accept SNAP benefits. As a result, fresh local produce is inaccessible for this significant and growing demographic. Obesity, diabetes and other diet-related health problems affect many of our lower-income residents in part because the affordable foods available are unhealthy and lack nutritive value.
The Solution:
GreenWheel Food Hub intends to help alleviate this problem by implementing the GreenWheel Grow Bucks Project; making possible the use of food stamps at many more of Oahu’s farmer’s markets. While enhancing the diets of Oahu's food stamp recipients, the Grow Bucks Project will also serve to assist Oahu's farming families by providing a conduit to convert some of the approximately $33.5 million in monthly federal SNAP benefits into a much needed boost in local farmer's market revenues.
GreenWheel Food Hub also recognizes the growing problem of “food deserts” : urban and rural communities that lack access to fresh food and instead rely on fast-food and processed foods for sustenance. We will address this concern by implementing the GreenWheel Mobile Market, a mobile farmers market truck that will improve access to fresh local food in Oahu's food deserts with an abundant selection of affordable, locally produced, healthy foods on a rotating weekly schedule of stops.
Join us in creating a vehicle for change! info@greenwheelfoodhub.org
According to the State of Hawaii Dept. of Human Services, in 2011, 154,496 individuals in the State of Hawaii received food stamp benefits from the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP]. However, on the island of Oahu, very few farmer's markets accept SNAP benefits. As a result, fresh local produce is inaccessible for this significant and growing demographic. Obesity, diabetes and other diet-related health problems affect many of our lower-income residents in part because the affordable foods available are unhealthy and lack nutritive value.
The Solution:
GreenWheel Food Hub intends to help alleviate this problem by implementing the GreenWheel Grow Bucks Project; making possible the use of food stamps at many more of Oahu’s farmer’s markets. While enhancing the diets of Oahu's food stamp recipients, the Grow Bucks Project will also serve to assist Oahu's farming families by providing a conduit to convert some of the approximately $33.5 million in monthly federal SNAP benefits into a much needed boost in local farmer's market revenues.
GreenWheel Food Hub also recognizes the growing problem of “food deserts” : urban and rural communities that lack access to fresh food and instead rely on fast-food and processed foods for sustenance. We will address this concern by implementing the GreenWheel Mobile Market, a mobile farmers market truck that will improve access to fresh local food in Oahu's food deserts with an abundant selection of affordable, locally produced, healthy foods on a rotating weekly schedule of stops.
Join us in creating a vehicle for change! info@greenwheelfoodhub.org
GreenWheel Food Hub is a fiscally sponsored project of
the Feed the Hunger Foundation, a 501 c 3. www.feed-hunger.com
the Feed the Hunger Foundation, a 501 c 3. www.feed-hunger.com
