Staff photo / Raymond L. Smith Mary Vassis and Karen Infante Allen walk through the Trumbull Mobile Market after the ribbon cutting that occurred Tuesday outside Trumbull County’s administration building in downtown Warren.

WARREN — Fresh meats, vegetables and other grocery items will be delivered to area residents starting this week as Trumbull County’s Mobile Market begins traveling throughout Trumbull County to provide residents a choice of places to shop close to their homes.

The mobile market is a 33-foot specially outfitted vehicle with refrigerated units for meats, juices and other foods needing refrigeration, as well as shelving for non-refrigerated produce, canned, boxed and bottled foods. In addition to the main bus, a smaller refrigerated trailer can be attached to carry perishable foods.

Approximately 70 people were at Trumbull County’s administration building on Warren’s High Street Tuesday for the unveiling of the vehicle and a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Rose Carter, executive director of Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing our Neighborhoods, also known as ACTION, noted unveiling the mobile market this month is particularly significant because September is Hunger Action Month.

ACTION is a faith-based community organization in the Mahoning Valley.

“According to data from Feeding America, the number of people living food insecure in the U.S. has increased to 44 million, which includes 13 million children,” she said.

ACTION and the non-profit Flying HIGH, Inc. have teamed up to take action while the area waits for an increased number of brick and mortar grocery store chains to determine if they want to open stores in the county.

“We can’t wait,” Carter said. “According to 2023 U.S. Census data, nearly 28 million adults nationwide have lived in homes where there was not enough food to eat. This is the highest since the first year of COVID-19.”

In addition to providing food to residents in their own neighborhoods, the mobile market also will provide job training for people who work on it, according to Jeffrey M. Magada, executive director of Flying HIGH.

Trumbull County commissioners provided $150,000 and Warren officials provided approximately $200,000 from their respective American Rescue Plan funds to help finance the bus.

Other organizations providing funds included Mercy Health, Caresource, Farmers Bank, the Youngstown Foundation and the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley.

Some of the food products sold in the buses will be bought from area farmers.

This is the second mobile grocery vehicle in the Mahoning Valley. The first, a 28-foot mobile market, began driving through Mahoning County in 2022. That vehicle made 436 stops last year serving more than 11,000 people all over Mahoning County, Carter said.

Trumbull County Commission President Denny Malloy said the bus will not be a solution, but a start, toward making sure people have the opportunity to purchase fresh foods.

“This will be an answer to a prayer of some single mothers wanting to provide food for their children,” Malloy said. “It is an answer to a prayer to someone who has given up hope.”

Malloy described food insecurity as affecting every community in Trumbull County.

“This is our community coming together to help our own,” he said.

Commissioner Niki Frenchko said the county was able to use its ARP funds because the bus will travel to communities in the furthest northern corners of the county and communities in the most southern townships and villages.

“This will help everyone,” she said.

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin described the launching of the mobile grocery as critical to the city and the county.

“I’ve been looking at food insecurity issues,” Franklin said. “They call them food deserts, but it is more appropriately called food apartheid zones. These food apartheid zones are the result of disinvestment and the lack of interest in certain communities.”

Even with the launch of the mobile market, Franklin described the work that must be done as significant.

“A lot of our residents are relegated to shopping at dollar and neighborhood stores, where they are being overcharged for low quality meats and vegetables,” he said.

Warren Councilwoman Tiffany Stanford, D-5th Ward, emphasized the truck is not in Trumbull County to provide only to low-income residents. She emphasized anyone can shop at the truck when it come to their neighborhoods

Money earned at the truck is reinvested in the truck and food products sold in it, she noted.

“This is great for our community,” she said. “This is for everyone. It is very affordable.”

Warren Councilman Tod Johnson, I-1st Ward, believes the mobile market will show owners of brick and mortar grocery stores that residents will financially support those bringing high quality food items and products to areas that traditionally have been food deserts.

Trumbull Mobile Market will be at Hampshire House Apartments, 1244 Fifth St. SW, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today. It will be at Imperial Mobile Park, 3293 Ellsworth-Bailey Road, Warren,11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday.

Follow The Trumbull Valley Mobile Market on Facebook for updates or actionoh.com for the schedule. The ACTION office can be reached at 234-232-7292.