Story in Brief
The DeKalb County Fresh on DeK (FOD) Mobile Farmers Market was established to serve DeKalb County citizens in the areas of nutrition and wellness. This is the ninth consecutive market season. Fresh on DeK Mobile Farmers Market targets communities without access to grocery stores within a one-mile radius. Fresh on DeK also provides an opportunity to learn healthy eating habits and make better decisions about the food that DeKalb County citizens consume. This program is made possible with funding from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, DeKalb County Government, DeKalb County Board of Health and UGA Cooperative Extension. Fresh on DeK provides fresh produce at low cost in strategic locations throughout the county, including recreation centers, senior communities, public libraries, churches, and community centers. Residents are able to purchase a wide range of produce, including but not limited to, sweet potatoes, apples, oranges, corn, green beans, plums, peaches, and kale. Fresh on DeK continues offering digital education, including weekly classes, food demonstrations, and healthy-living handouts. New in 2023, DeKalb residents that participated in the weekly online classes were able to redeem discount vouchers for produce purchases, to incentivize class participation. During the 16-week 2023 farmers market season, Fresh on DeK Mobile Farmer’s Market reached 4,866 participants in 16 locations with the pop-up market. Fresh on DeK continues the educational outreach through weekly 1-hour healthy living classes on Zoom, Facebook Live and now YouTube online platforms for 16 weeks and educational extenders given to participants who attended weekly. Fresh on DeK Healthy Living classes had 1,857 online participants to learn about various topics such as trends in health and wellness, nutrition labels and creating S.M.A.R.T Goals.
