By Lovis Bienefeld
A personal account of a location on wheels that feeds people and brings them together.
People have already gathered. Some students, a few teachers, but mainly locals. It is the fourth of February and as every Wednesday a truck loaded with food pulls into the car park of Peninsula College at 11 o’clock sharp. You register once with your name and contact details and receive a card that is scanned before you take your food. Students are actively encouraged to take advantage of it. Many of the products are about to expire, and sometimes we don’t manage to sell everything we have”, the friendly staff member said. There is a selection of fruit and vegetables laid out on tables in front of the car. You are given a bag and can then put together your shopping. No one stops you from taking more than you need, but there is a kind of unwritten rule among the people. While everybody puts together their ‘shopping list’, people discuss which recipes are best to cook with the food on offer. One man said that cabbage would go wonderfully with bacon. In addition to fruit and vegetables, each visitor also receives a pack of eggs, bread, meat and a few other small items if required. Not a bad haul for poor college students.
The permanently employed workers who drive and manage the truck are often assisted by volunteers when travelling to other locations in Port Angeles or Joyce. The Port Angeles Food Bank finances the Mobile Market through a mix of charitable funding and an earned‑income program that all support its overall budget, which also covers the mobile operation. In addition to the mobile food bank, there is also ‘The Market’, a free grocery store which the mobile food bank is part of. ‘The Market’ is open from Wednesday to Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is located at 632 N Oakridge Drive in Port Angeles and you can find it under www.pamarket.org.
