TOWN OF MANLIUS – The co-founder and market manager for Food Access Healthy Neighborhoods Now! (FAHNN), Rhonda Vesey, spoke about food injustice for the Oct. 8 installment of Manlius Library’s Manlius Informed lecture series.
Officially started in the summer of 2022, FAHNN runs a community farmers market in the valley on the south side of the city of Syracuse.
When it’s outdoors in the summer, the market is located in the parking lot of the Valley Plaza at 4141 S. Salina St. between East Seneca Turnpike and Brighton Avenue. Once it moves indoors in the winter or in the event of inclement weather, it moves into a plaza space between the Dollar General and Citi Trends.
Vesey hatched the idea for the market at the height of the COVID pandemic in May 2020. At that point in time, she noticed a shortage of places to easily pick up fresh, healthy, unprocessed foods in the valley neighborhood considering the 2018 closing of the Tops Market there, especially for senior citizens having trouble getting around and folks without proper access to personal transportation.
“The main reason was to bring access to fresh food into a community that for two years at that time did not have a grocery store,” Vesey said.
From there, Vesey began meeting with residents in a five-mile radius of the Valley Plaza at spots like the Arctic Island ice cream parlor and the library to develop a logo and a plan of action.
Now, Syracuse’s urban farm Brady Farm and the online, delivery-based hub Plum & Mule have climbed aboard the mission as regular vendors, joined by representatives from Syracuse C.A.R.E.S., the Syracuse Urban Food Forest Project and other groups, with many of the stands accepting Double Up Food Bucks.
FAHNN has also collaborated with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for education relating to energy efficiency and Upstate University Hospital for heart health education that sees the lead doctor present and their interns check vitals, monitor for diabetes, and answer any questions.
Additionally, there have been listening sessions regarding the I-81 construction and the Micron facility coming to Clay as well as live cooking demonstrations during the market season brought in by Food Bank of Central New York every first Saturday morning of the month at 11 a.m.
The last date of the current weekly summer market is this Saturday, Oct. 19, but the market and workshop series FAHNN puts on Wednesdays 4 to 7:30 p.m. will continue as usual like it does year-round. Those indoor, informative programs have covered topics like lead poisoning prevention and immunization.
The market will pick back up for its bimonthly, inside winter market happening the first and third Saturdays of each month starting on Saturday, Nov. 23 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
FAHNN relies on Center State Development as a fiscal sponsor, while the Tops Friendly Markets company provides refrigeration, extra equipment and items to raffle off. When they’re running, the markets usually have goods like honey, farm-fresh meat, coffee grounds, fruits, vegetables, olive oils, lotions, natural body butters, candles and more.
Further information about Food Access Healthy Neighborhoods Now! can be found on its Facebook and Instagram pages. For more information about the Manlius Informed series visit manliuslibrary.org.