Groups working to find solutions to gap left by grocery store closure
With the Manchester Market’s impending closure, groups throughout the community are pursuing solutions to provide grocery access to our community.
The Manchester Farmers Market Committee is looking into expanding the Farmers Market. One model they are looking at Argus Farm Stop. Argus Farm Stop is an “everyday farmers market.” It is indoors, stocked with locally grown food (including dairy, meat, and baked goods), open every day and is set up like a store with one checkout. It currently has two locations in Ann Arbor. Kathy Sample and Bill Brinkerhof along with Manchester farmer and advocate of the Argus Farm Stop model Megan DeLeeuw, will be presenting and discussing this model at the next Farmers Market Committee meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 5 pm in the upper level conference room in Village Hall, 912 City Road. This meeting is open to the public.
The Manchester Downtown Development Authority (DDA) will be discussing data related to grocery stores at its next meeting on Wednesday, January 30 at 7 pm in the Village Council Chambers (lower level), Village Hall, 912 City Road. The DDA will work on recruiting a grocery store chain to open in Manchester. DDA meetings are open to the public.
The Manchester Ladies Society is hosting a meeting to look at starting a grocery-store style food co-op in Manchester. The meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Feb, 2 at 1 pm in the Village Room (lower level), 912 City Road. A helpful guide to starting a food co-op is distributed by an organization called Food Co-op Initiative (FCI). The guide recommends as the first step forming an initial exploratory group which will research the development process, reach out and make connections with food co-ops in the region, and talking to people throughout the community. Everyone interested in helping to form this exploratory group is invited to attend.
Ruth VanBogelen is working with the Community Resource Center to start up a volunteer grocery delivery service for residents without access to reliable transportation to a grocery store in another community. Many grocery stores now offer the option to order your groceries online and pick them up. Through this service, a volunteer would offer to drive to a grocery store on a specific day and and time and Manchester residents without transportation would be able to order groceries online and have them picked up by the volunteer and brought back to Manchester. The Manchester library has computers that can be used to order groceries, and if help is needed with ordering, Superintendent Nick Steinmetz volunteered to organize high school students to help. The Community Resource Center is currently working out details, but if you would like to volunteer to pick up groceries or you would like to utilize this volunteer service, email VanBogelen at 48158food@gmail.com or call the Community Resource Center at 734-428-7722.
Other measures are also being pursued. Manchester residents who belong to Food Revolution Co-op out of Grass Lake, a Christian-based buying club-style food co-op that orders biweekly with pickups on the following week, are looking into setting up a pick-up location here in Manchester. The Community Resource Center is offering to work with the schools to increase the number of backpacks of food sent home with students on weekends to encompass those families who didn’t before but may now experience food insecurity because of lack of reliable transportation to a local grocery store. The Manchester Wellness Coalition will begin working with gas stations and convenience stores to offer more healthy food options.
If you want to help with one of these solutions but can’t attend the meeting, or if you have an idea that hasn’t been discussed yet, email 48158food@gmail.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login