What do you do when the only grocery store in your village closes? A group of 95 individuals, some from the village of Marcellus, many from outside the village but concerned about the looming threat of a food desert (no fresh meat or produce), joined together to explore what options, what creative solutions exist that could mitigate the loss of that grocery store and the changes that loss will bring to the area.
Facebook and word of mouth were the engines that recruited stakeholders to meetings that identified, discussed and researched both long and short term issues. Those issues concentrated how to determine what the changes meant for access to food which was previously available at the local grocery store. Short term involved identifying what resources already exist in the community including food pantries, Meals on Wheels, CSA’s, delivery services, public transportation, Laker Limo and more. Long term solutions were wrapped around the question: What do we want our community food supply to look like 10 to 20 years from now?
Members of the group undertook research into a wide variety of both existing and creative out-of-the-box solutions. As one of the organizers stated on Facebook, “We were there to look forward, not back. Our focus was on creating ideas and visions as we face a near future without a true grocery store in our village”
As so often happens, an existing resource provided an interesting opportunity about which most of the community was unaware. It ticked, to quote a British idiom, many of the boxes. Known as Food Sense, it is a monthly food box from the Food Bank of Central New York. Food Sense is described by the Food Bank as a “monthly food co-op for everyone,” with the emphasis on everyone. There are no income requirements.
Here is how the Food Bank describes the program:
“One of the Food Bank’s longest running programs, Food Sense is a monthly food buying co-op for anyone who wants to stretch their grocery dollars. Food Sense provides a monthly box of 12-15 staple grocery items at a discounted price.”
There are no qualifications, no subscriptions, and no requirements to participate in Food Sense
The Food Bank partners with a number of host sites across our 11-county service area. Please note: Food Bank of Central New York does not take direct orders for Food Sense. All orders are to be placed through your host site.
Each package costs $20.50 without limitation to the number of packages you may buy. While the items vary from month to month, the package always includes:
4-5 meat items like chicken, ground beef or fish
4-5 staple pantry items like pasta, soup, and rice
2 fresh produce items like apples, carrots or oranges
Rotating monthly specials like stuffed pork chops, American cheese, meatballs, lasagna and chicken tenders can be purchased in addition to the basic unit.
Participants can also order a pantry box weighing 10 pounds for $11.50 which contains a variety of shelf stable items such as breakfast cereals, peanut butter, etc.
Specific directions about how to participate in this program are published online at the Food Bank of Central New York website. More information about the local effort to establish a site for pickup of the boxes in Marcellus is available on the Food Security for the Village of Marcellus NY and its neighbors Facebook page. The closest pick-up site for Marcellus is now in Camillus.
Food Sense is not the whole solution to the fallout from the loss of a long time village grocery store, but it can be a part of any number of options.
And now, from that part of this columnist who will always be a social studies teacher:
This group of concerned citizens is demonstrating what cool heads, engaged minds and the passion for their community can do. Kudos to all who have and will continue this demonstration of what it means to be a participatory citizen.
Bravo!

Food Sense March package ($20.50)
This is what participants received in their March box:
Pork Tenderloin, 1.8 lbs. (avg.)
Chicken Drumsticks, 2.4 lbs. (avg.)
Marinated Beef Portions, 1 lb.
Pollock Fillets, 1 lb.
Ground Turkey, 1 lb.
Stuffed Rigatoni, 12 oz.
Peas and Carrots, 1 lb.
Frozen Strawberries, 1 lb.
Elbow Macaroni, 1 lb.
Applesauce, 15 oz.
Cabbage, 1 head
Mushrooms 8 oz.