Megan's Mobile Grocery

The area surrounding the Housing Authority of BG’s main developments are currently listed as a food desert by the USDA. The USDA definition of a food desert is vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other helpful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas.

Many individuals in the areas also have transportation barriers or limited access via public transportation to access a grocery store.

Megan’s Mobile Grocery is bridging the gap. We have served over 1034 people. Ninety-nine percent of the people who use Megan’s Mobile Grocery are at or below the poverty line. The bus makes approximately 30 stops a week. We have included our map to show the stops and

where they are located within Bowling Green. It is easy to see that most stops are within low access and low income areas of our county.

In addition to serving a community with lack of access to food, we are also helping to maintain affordable prices for those whose only walkable food store is a convenience store. We found that milk and eggs were between 50-200% higher at convenience stores compared to grocery stores. For example, milk is $5.29 a gallon at a convenience store (a 20% increase from 2022), and the mobile grocery sells a half gallon for $1.25. Eggs are $6.99/dozen at the convenient store, and we sell them for $2.15. We offer milk, bread, fresh and canned produce, cooking oil, chips, and crackers, along with some toiletries and common household goods.

Furthermore, we accept EBT to make certain that all who are eligible to use this service are able.

Costs to run Megan’s Mobile Grocery include staff time (approximately 30 hours a week), fuel, vehicle maintenance, and the cost of purchasing the groceries and taking a slight loss on the items to keep them affordable to our consumers.