BALTIMORE — Four students who just graduated middle school are heading in to high school with their very own business. Not your typical activity to do in your early teenage years.
If you take a look around Sandtown-Winchester, you’ll see a few markets throughout the area, but what you won’t find in those, is fresh produce.
“We live in a community that got no healthy food or real corner stores, so basically we live in a food desert,” said Aniya Ponton, one of the creators of Bmore Fresh.
It’s a struggle people in the area faced for many years, stating food markets used to be within walking distance but those were closed down one by one.
Now the closest market for fresh produce is in Mondawmin, which can be a significant struggle for many to travel to.
“The children don’t even eat fruits and vegetables because it’s so hard to come by,” said Maurice Street, who lives in Sandtown-Winchester.
“For those that got young kids, the elderly its just hard for them. The parents, if they had to walk three miles with a heavy watermelon, I don’t think you’re going to get it,” said Harry Morgan, lives in Sandtown-Winchester.
Four scholars from New Song Academy are looking to put a stop to the lack of nutrition. It’s called Bmore Fresh, a food truck to bring fresh produce to communities that find it hard to come by.
“We’re going to be serving like watermelons, greens, fresh cabbage, vegetables and fruits, cucumbers, fresh food,” said Ponton.
Logan Reynolds, Ponton, Ryeona Watson, and Samahj Chestnut came up with the idea thinking it was just a project for school, but it turned into much more, participating in an event called Philanthropy Tank.
It’s a nonprofit that provides students in grades 8th through 11th an opportunity to receive a mentor and funding to support their idea to help the community.
These ladies were the youngest group in the competition, and they won $13,000.
“It’s going to be a big bus with seats in it and a refrigerator, air condition with shelves and it’s going to say be more fresh on the outside of course so everybody know where we’re at,” said Ponton.
The 13 and 14-year-old’s said staffing for the business will be kept within their school stomping grounds.
“We’re going to partner up with 8th graders at New Song, we’re going to train them and teach them how to do it and we’re going to partner up with youth works,” said Reynolds.
The fresh vegetables will come from local farms and the nonprofit Farm Alliance in Baltimore. The ladies said the next step is meeting with a mentor at the end of July to start rolling out plans for starting the business.
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