Accessibility in a Nutrition Desert

Amid the accessibility challenges present in rural Ohio, residents have another issue beyond the distance between their homes and a grocery store––the nutrition value of the items available on the shelves.

Natalie Hoffman, a single mother and part-time worker at the local women's rehabilitation center, Serenity Grove, is a SNAP beneficiary forced to budget the food bought for herself and 8 year-old daughter living in their home in Southeast Ohio. Executive Director of Serenity Grove Betsy Anderson echoes this concern, and connects with Community Food Initiatives––an organization based in the region helping bring low-cost produce purchased from auctions to areas far from grocers offering fresh and whole foods.

Natalie Hoffman loads groceries from Aldi into reusable bags after checking out her items in Athens, Ohio.

Hoffman loads grocery bags into her car after a trip to Kroger for getting items to make dinner with women at Serenity Grove, a women's rehabilitation center in Athens, Ohio.

Hoffman talks with Charity, a woman living at Serenity Grove in Athens, Ohio.

Charity, who lives at Serenity Grove, a women's rehabilitation center, compares two kinds of cheese purchased from the deli counter at Kroger and Walmart in Athens, Ohio.

A graph tracking local produce systems is hung inside the walls of the Chesterfield Produce Auction in Chesterfield, Ohio.

A pop-up tent is anchored outside the Veggie Van, operated by local produce vendor Community Food Initiatives in Coolville, Ohio.

Members with Community help distribute crates of locally-grown pie pumpkins to the general public.

Volunteers work at the Chesterfield Produce Auction to distribute auctioned items in Chesterfield, Ohio.

Potted plants are arranged on the edge of the auction stage, where determined participants wait to bid on the next bulk to be auctioned off.

At the ACEnet building, CFI distributes goods to the general public and anyone collecting items for food pantries in the Athens and surrounding counties of Southeast Ohio.

A volunteer looks on while working at the Chesterfield Produce Auction in Chesterfield, Ohio.

Pie pumpkins are weighed before they're packed into crates for distribution.

Natalie Hoffman inspects reduced-price cans of soup in a cart at Kroger in Athens, Ohio.

Hoffman smells the quality of a milk gallon while making dinner with her daughter Abby, 8, in their home in The Plains, Ohio.

Hoffman and daughter Abby, 8, eat tacos in their kitchen during dinner in The Plains, Ohio.

Hoffman cleans up the the table where she and her daughter ate dinner at their home in The Plains, Ohio.