Title
Ohio Healthy Food Movement
Everyone Deserves Access: Ohio Stories
Duration
6 min. 4 sec.
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VintonCounty
Rhoda Price, VintonCounty Senior Services, Director
“When I started as Director here at the Center, 35 years ago, there was a Kroger Store here in McArthur. It went out of business and a Super Value Market came in. It was in business until about two years ago – and we have really been feeling the downfall.
“The options we have left in the VintonCounty area, we have two Dollar Stores, and they will carry little things like packaged lunch meats. They will carry canned goods. They’re very limited with it, and that’s about it in the area.
“We have to take people shopping because there’s no place to shop. To pick up an average client in VintonCounty, we’re going to have to average at least 20 miles round trip and it can go up as high as 60 round trip. And it varies for which city we can go to because of being in the middle of a lot but not close to any.”
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With their grocery gone, many of the citizens of McArthur rely on this center for access to healthy foods.
“Our whole idea with Vinton County senior citizens is to keep a person, 60 years of age and older, as independent as possible and in their home as long as possible. Otherwise, we are here for them, as family, if their family is not here, on a one-on-one basis, to provide nutrition as well as transportation.”
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Over two million Ohio residents live in lower-income communities underserved by supermarkets.
Dola Powell, VintonCounty Senior Services Volunteer
“There’s no option really because there’s no produce here. And there’s no meats here, only it’s in packages, and your cheese is in packages. That’s why we need a supermarket here in McArthur.”
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Cleveland
Dan Saltzman, Owner, Dave’s Market
“It’s essential to neighborhoods to have quality food shopping. I think it’s very hard for people to live in neighborhoods that have been abandoned by retailers, by all sorts of services, and food is such a basic thing. So, you know, when you bring that service back to a community, it rejuvenates the people that live in that community,”
Fatima Rivera, Manager, Dave’s Market
“We’re in walking distance for a lot of people. I mean, we have a lot of businesses that a lot of people walk to and then they might go to lunch with a family member and stop here in the afternoon and pick up what they’re going to grab for dinner for later on with their family. So us being within walking distance of a lot of the businesses and of a lot of the other places around here works wonders for the neighborhood and for us, as a business.”
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Thousands of families in Ohio live in places where they can’t access healthy produce, whole grains, and low-fat dairy options.
Lizy Morales-Rodriguez, Advocate for Healthy Food Access
“It was 2011, and I wasn’t myself. I wasn’t the Mom I wanted to be. I was always tired. I never wanted to play with my kids. And it was hard, the doctor literally telling me, ‘You have to do something about your weight. This is why you’re feeling this way.’
“Then to realize that, well, if I wanted to be around for a long time and be there for my kids, be the wife I want to be, I needed to do something. So finally, I decided to start exercising and eating healthy. They correlate together - you know - that’s pretty much all you need.
“Now I know that we’re all healthier, and that’s what matters to me. To be able to actually go to the store and buy the healthier stuff – and the kids will actually eat it. Being able to have healthier food for my family is very important to me. And I couldn’t imagine how other families, who they couldn’t even be able to even go to the store to get the foods that we need.”
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Bringing grocery stores to Ohio helps prevent obesity and improves the economy.
Rhoda Price, VintonCounty Senior Services, Director
“I would personally like to see, to have a nice grocery store here in the County Seat, where we can get fresh meats, fresh produce to serve the people here so they can have a healthy diet. And our Commissioners are looking towards a prospect of having maybe another food chain. They’ve tried just about everything.”
Terri Fetherolf, Development Director, VintonCounty
“I mean, the community is behind efforts to do something, and so we’re working hard to try to make that happen. That’s what bringing a grocery to town would do is that more than the economics of it, more than the health impact - I think it would bring back a sense of hope. Although the County probably can’t build a grocery, they can lower the barriers.”
Dan Saltzman, Owner, Dave’s Market
“The cities themselves don’t have the ability to step up and get these deals done without someone else stepping in and helping, and the neighborhood development groups, the county and the state – if not for all those people coming together, this store never would have happened. So we need to have all these groups come together in order to reach the goal to provide quality food and some services in a neighborhood that was greatly in need of that.”
Dola Powell, VintonCounty Senior Services Volunteer
“If we had a grocery store where we could buy produce, we could buy meats, at a decent price – then we would not have to go out of McArthur to shop.”
Lizy Morales-Rodriguez, Advocate for Healthy Food Access
“That’s the main important thing – healthy, healthiness. You know, being fit and being healthy, that’s the main goal. Because I don’t want my kids growing up with eating that type of food. And we have to be role models for our kids too. So it’s important, you know, that they learn how to eat the right foods too, and, you know, to take care of their bodies.”
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Healthy fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, low-fat dairy; everyone deserves the chance to have a healthy diet.
For more information on how you can support health food access policies, visit: OHHealthyFood.heart.org OR VoicesForHealthyKids.org.
Together, we can create healthier communities!