Fresh produce market a breath of fresh air for North Philly community

 by Emily Neil, Staff Writer @E_B_Neil  Contact Emily
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The partnership between Philabundance and the Lillian Marrero Library offers free fruits and vegetables to community residents — including the hundreds of Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria now living in the area.

It was a rainy, overcast day, but the parking lot behind Lillian Marrero Library in the Fairhill community of North Philadelphia was full of life, as close to 200 community members passed through and greeted one another, and volunteers handed out potatoes, cabbage, melons, and various other fruits and vegetables. At one end of the parking lot, a cooking demonstration led by nutritionists showed how to mix cabbage, peppers, and other ingredients into a fast, easy salad, while those gathered tried the samples and gathered in groups, chatting and exchanging news as reggaeton and bachata music played over loudspeakers.

Every aspect of the Fresh For All free farmers market, run by Philabundance in partnership with the Lillian Marrero Library every Wednesday afternoon from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. since it opened in March, is organized with the goal of promoting connection, creativity, and health to uplift community members — even and especially those facing the most difficult of times, noted Philabundance program coordinator Jose Vargas as he looked out on the gathering.

“You see the amount of people that are coming out,” said Vargas. “We’ve also been able to attract people from Puerto Rico that were displaced because of the hurricane, so it’s good to be back here, to have this program in a neighborhood where it really needs it.” 

According to Providence Center community organizer and citywide activist Charito Morales, around 200 families who have been displaced by Hurricane Maria are living in the immediate area, many of whom have been able to benefit from the program.

Morales, who volunteers at Fresh For All every Wednesday at her lunch hour, said that in addition to being a help, facilitating access to fruits and vegetables gives those recently arrived from Puerto Rico a taste of the fresh produce they left behind.

“They’ve been living in the hotels, a couple of families, and some of them live in basements, and they need this. And that brings them really close [to] home because that’s what they eat on a daily basis,” Morales said of some of those now living in the neighborhood who were displaced by Hurricane Maria, adding, “The only thing over here you have to purchase them, over there you grow them.” 

Rosita Torres, a Fresh For All client and local resident from Puerto Rico, said that the service is helpful both for those recently displaced and others in the community who are low-income, a point echoed by Nelly Velazquez, another local resident and Puerto Rican who survived Hurricane Maria while on the island caring for a sick family member.

Velazquez said that the Fresh For All produce has been “a help,” and supplements the $90 in food stamps per month which she receives through Social Security.

The produce itself is taken from the general Philadelphia wholesale produce market, as well as the port of Philadelphia, said Philabundance communications manager Samantha Retamar, explaining that Philabundance sorts through the produce that has been over ordered, selecting fruits and vegetables that are still good so that instead of being thrown out can then be made available for free to various communities throughout the city via the Fresh For All program.

Plus, Retamar added, it’s a “win win” that benefits the produce sellers as well, lowering the cost of their dumping fees, which are usually charged by the pound.

Retamar said that what she loves about the program itself is that the food provided to their clients is “nothing that I wouldn’t give to my mother or to my nephew, or to my grandmother.” 

“This is all perfectly good food that we need,” Retamar said, noting, as other community members did, that the healthiest options provided for free at the market are also among the most expensive products to buy at the supermarket.

The program is a revival of a similar program that the library and Philabundance had collaborated on for several years, before ending it six years ago due to renovation processes the library was undergoing. The end of that program left “a kind of void in the neighborhood for a program like this,” said Vargas, adding that prior to bringing the “roving farmer’s market” back to the area once again this year, the community “was kind of left barren.”

Tania-María Ríos Marrero, community organizer at Lillian Marrero Library, agreed that demand for improved access to fresh food in the Fairhill community is clear, and informed their work in implementing the partnership.

“There’s a very sort of obvious, blatant, and stated need from the community around food access, so it’s just us as organizations responding to that need,”Marrero said.

Photography by Emily Neil

 

Philabundance Awards 49 Member Agencies with Capacity Grants

Philabundance Awards 49 Member Agencies with Capacity Grants

Philabundance has announced $250,000 in 2025–2027 Capacity Grants for 49 member agencies across Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. This funding will provide the operational capital needed to allow organizations to remain flexible and able to adapt to changing needs.

From faith-based institutions in Delaware County to social service agencies meeting the needs of diverse families across Philadelphia County, the 2025–2027 Philabundance Capacity grantees are among the hundreds of organizations that partner with Philabundance to support the more than 600,000 individuals in our region experiencing food insecurity.

The grantees include

  • Bucks County: Bucks County Opportunity Council; Faith Baptist Church
  • Delaware County: Blessed Virgin Mary; Loaves & Fishes; Prayer Chapel Church of God in Christ
  • Mercer County: Prince of Peace Center
  • Montgomery County: Bethel Community Church; ElderNet of Lower Merion and Narberth; Grace Lutheran Norristown; Love Works Resource Center; Mitzvah Circle; Upper Merion Area Community Cupboard; Patrician Society
  • Philadelphia County: African Family Health Organization; Alexander McClure Elementary School; Bebashi; Bethany Missionary Baptist Church; Breaking Bread on Broad; Bright Hope Baptist Church; Broad Street Love; Brothers of Strawberry Mansion; Calvary Agape Outreach Services; Casa Del Carmen; Cast Your Cares; Christ Apostolic WOSEM; Community Center at Visitation; Episcopal Community Services; The Family Practice & Counseling Network; First Church Worship Center; Germantown Avenue Crisis Ministry; Grace Community Christian Center; Kensington Health Sciences Academy; Lutheran Settlement House; Mighty Writers; Mi Salud Wellness; Nationalities Services Center; North Light Community Center; Old Pine Community Center; Open Door Ministries; Our Brothers Place; Paul L Dunbar School; Project H.O.M.E.; Southwest Family Service Center; St. Paul Outreach; Word In Action International Ministries
  • York County: Bethlehem Baptist Church; Mattie Dixon Community Center
  • Southern New Jersey: Puerto Rican Unity for Progress; SisterHood Inc.

Philabundance Capacity Grants help improve each organization’s ability to operate more efficiently and deliver effective food distribution programs and services. To date, $4.4 million dollars in Philabundance Capacity Grants have been allocated for capacity-building infrastructure, such as refrigerators, freezers, refrigerated vans and technology to empower community partners and improve the food distribution network.

“As federal resources continue to shrink and hunger remains a distressing reality in the Greater Philadelphia region, community-based nonprofits are often a lifeline for families in need of healthy food,” said Loree D. Jones Brown, CEO of Philabundance. “Investing directly in our partners and their infrastructure allows us to swiftly and efficiently meet the needs of thousands of our friends and neighbors experiencing food insecurity.”

“Breaking Bread on Broad is [very] grateful for the new refrigerators we will be able to purchase with our Philabundance grant,” said Dan Seltzer, co-leader of Breaking Bread on Broad (BBoB). “Breaking Bread on Broad is the food pantry of Congregation Rodeph Shalom whose mission is to provide our neighbors in need with food, diapers and period supplies each week. With this grant, we will be able to provide our BBoB neighbors with more fresh fruits, vegetables, and protein to better feed their families.”

“​​With this funding, Casa Del Carmen will invest in critical hardware—such as commercial refrigeration, durable shelving, metal prep-table and mini hand pallet jack—that will enhance the efficiency and reliability of our food pantry operations,” said Janet DeJesus, office manager at Casa Del Carmen. “These improvements will allow us to store more fresh and nutritious food, reduce waste, and serve our neighbors more quickly and with greater dignity. By strengthening our infrastructure, we are not only improving daily logistics but also deepening our commitment to food security and community well-being.”

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