When the city shut down, the Arcadia Mobile Market opened up -- nearly two months ahead of schedule

Arcadia's Mobile Market Director Erin Close realized in March that thousands of regular market customers were disproportionately affected by COVID-19 quarantine restrictions.

Close knew the people who purchased more than 50 tons of fresh local produce at the Mobile Market's 10 sites across Washington D.C. in 2019 would struggle to access fresh food. In the best of times, getting food in these 10 neighborhoods is tough. Pandemic restrictions made it worse.

It hit home when -- pre-pandemic -- she announced a monthly "pop-up" market, a way to stay in touch with customers before the official season began in May. Within minutes of announcing the market -- just as the quarantine was about to go into effect -- she had more than 200 orders from customers otherwise unable to access grocery stores.

On a recent Saturday, Pam Curry, a retired legal secretary who's been a Mobile Market customer for two years, waited in line to buy "her" chicken thighs as she lovingly refers to the Ayrshire Farm poultry she's come to expect from the market.

"I'm a senior and I have health issues--I'm not going to a grocery store right now," she explained. "Erin and her crew bringing the market to these communities a month early like this was a real relief. People don't believe it when I say we get farm to table right here in our own neighborhood but it's the truth, thanks to Erin and the Market."

Close, in her third year leading the Market, understood what the pandemic would mean for her customers and swung into action. She swiftly created a safe food distribution training plan based on best practices for social distancing for customers and employees and implemented it for her March markets. And she quickly made plans to implement multiple weekly markets through April to serve her customers. When the mayor required outdoor markets to apply for waivers to operate, the Arcadia Mobile Market was ready: it received the first one granted, on April 9.

Erin Close stands with Patricia Williams, the ANC commissioner for 5E02 and longtime supporter and volunteer of Arcadia's Mobile Market in Edgewood. 

Close learned from her first pandemic market and implemented tweaks to her plan. She added employees to manage lines, calling up alumni staff to ensure she had a practiced team; she asked the farmer to pre-pack boxes for efficiency; and she built sneeze guards and distributed fabric masks that she washes for staff between uses.

Arcadia's long-time Mobile Market partner the Bainum Family Foundation then stepped in with the missing piece: the funds to cover operating these unexpected markets and the 300 fresh local produce boxes from Earth N Eats Farm in central Pennsylvania to be distributed for free every week. Supplemented with leafy greens from other local farms, these boxes included lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, beets, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Mindful of her customers' purchasing habits, Close also set up a socially distanced free-choice market, accepting cash, credit, and SNAP for customers who wanted to buy meat, eggs, and additional produce to supplement their boxes -- as well as for new customers who traveled across town to shop for local food in the fresh air, rather than a grocery store.

Customers at the Edgewood pop up market followed social distancing guidelines as they picked up produce boxes May 1.

The produce boxes, distributed free on a first come, first served basis, were a lifeline for some of the market's regular customers in neighborhoods where brick and mortar stores are few and far between. People lined up down the street, six feet between them and waited for their turn to step to the table and grab a full box and a bag before purchasing a la carte items, including eggs, yogurt, fresh honey, apples, beef and pork ribs, chickens, cutlets and thighs. 

Customers wait to buy a la carte items after picking up boxes of fresh produce. 

Customers who used SNAP/EBT (food stamps) or WIC received a 50% discount on a la carte purchases, making the pop-up markets even more important to customers quarantined without access to the myriad of food delivery options much of the country is using to fill their pantries. Many such services require credit cards, and some Mobile Market customers don't have them.

Lissette Ampara, back for her second season as a Mobile Market employee, acted as a personal shopper for market customers to help maintain prop[er social distancing. 

Close and her team marked distances off on the sidewalk, set up hand-washing stations, and handed out masks for customers who didn't have one. Arcadia staff served as personal shoppers so customers didn't have to handle anything until they walked away with their purchase.

Behind the scenes market employees were reminded to practice good hygiene while at the market and at home; to treat their cell phone like their third hand [how often do you wipe your phone down!?] and to limit their exposure to people when they weren't at work to diminish their chance of exposure to the Coronavirus.

Simple and effective: shoppers were encouraged to wash their hands as they made their way to the pick-up station.

Pam Curry waits in line as a Mobile Market employee gathered the items she selected.

Curry stepped to the front of the line to pay as one of the market employees bagged the items she selected for purchase. She didn't have a produce box.

"I got a box last week and it was so plentiful I don't need anything more today. I shared some with my neighbor and I still have some left," Curry said. "I see people here with a greater need than I have right now--let them enjoy the bounty this week."

The Mobile Market offered two pop-up markets per week for four weeks, giving out 150 bountiful boxes of produce at each site.

Gabriela Gomez, the newest employee on the Mobile Market team, said it was a long day and a lot of satisfying work. "It's a bizarre time in the world right now, and there are so many people in need," she said. "It's great to see people come together, to see everyone is welcome here. I'm glad to be part of it."

Setting the pace, Gabriela Gomez stacks more produce boxes and prepares to slide them to waiting customers.

Arcadia's regular market season, with financial support from Bainum, DC Health, the Family Alliance Foundation and the Cloudbreak Foundation, is scheduled to open the first week of June.  Erin and her market team have paused pandemic operations for the remainder of May to hire and train more staff and to revise the market model for the coming season.

The hastily recalled team of Mobile Market employees were proud to step in and serve their customers in a time of need.

For more information about the Mobile Market, a list of sites, sourcing partners and opportunities to get involved, visit our page and see why the customers are so excited to see us season after season.  See you in June!

All packed up and ready to go, the Mobile Market team wrapped up a successful stop.