After attending one of our food access round table events in May of 2014, Jonathan Matthews of Village Baptist Church became inspired to increase food access in Marin City. As we began to work closely with Matthews and visiting the community, we got a eye-opening glimpse into the food access issues that Marin City residents face everyday. Without a single grocery store or farmers’ market and only a Dollar Store and CVS to shop at, residents have very little access to healthy, fresh foods. As a result, about 75% of the community’s adults are obese, compared to Marin County’s obesity rate of 44%. Moreover, over 57% of Marin City residents live in poverty. It became clear just how interconnected poor health and poverty are.
Knowing how these tough challenges affect his community, Matthews sought to broaden food access in Marin City by establishing a farm stand on church grounds after Sunday services. After receiving a mini-grant from the Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative, Village Baptist Church now had the funding for their project and quickly got together a core group of volunteers. The Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative connected Village Baptist Church with Dr. Gail Myers of Farms to Grow, Inc., who provided affordable, local produce grown by African-American farmers. On December 21st, 2014, Village Baptist Church hosted its first farm stand. The stand gained momentum for the next two sales dates and has continued to gain traction and awareness in the church as well as in the greater community.
Although Village Baptist Church has now moved to Petaluma, Matthews says that he plans to keep the project going at the church’s new location. As for Marin City, word has spread about the fresh fruit and veggie farm stand and community members seem eager to keep fresh produce coming to the town. The Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative plans to work closely with other faith groups in Marin City to help make regular access to healthy food a reality.