East Side farmers market an oasis in “food desert” Sam Houston students start farmers market for East Side residents

The East Side is a wasteland when it comes to healthy food, according to area educator Rick Treviño.

So in an area the USDA labels as a “food desert” — where cheap fast food options outnumber conventional grocery stores and poverty runs rampant — Treviño’s students at Sam Houston High School have launched a fledgling farmer’s market they are hoping will blossom into an oasis of fruits, vegetables and other hard-to-find, healthy eats.

“There’s no reason why this kind of food (should) not be here,” said Treviño, who teaches world geography. “This is a high poverty area, where many families in the community lack (transportation). There aren’t a lot of grocery stores — in 78220 we just have that H-E-B on W.W. White and the Walmart on Rigsby — so we’re left with primarily processed, fast food.”

Called the Lamkin Produce Market in honor of a beloved girls basketball coach who died last year of cancer, the market officially opened on April 18. It’s partially funded by the SAISD Foundation, while also situated at the epicenter of the Promise and Choice Neighborhood grants, which represent about $54 million worth of overlapping federal initiatives aimed at beating back poverty on the East Side through education, public housing changes and other programs.

“This is probably one of the last times we’ll have a focus like this on this community, ” Treviño added.

Jeniffer Richardson, community engagement director for the Eastside Promise Neighborhood grant, said the Lamkin Produce Market — along with a similar effort at the Ella Austin Center — will run monthly through August. The market, which relies on the San Antonio Food Bank as a vendor, will accept cards used by residents who qualify for federal food assistance.

“We wanted to make it accessible to everyone, ” Richardson said.

Treviño plans to eventually seek matching federal food assistance funds so buyers can buy twice the produce per dollar spent on their cards, but meanwhile he is trying to score a $25,000 grant through the San Antonio Independent School District Foundation for that purpose.

Luz Neira, the director of the San Antonio Food Bank’s nutrition department, said she is confident in Treviño and his students.

“There is a lot of energy in this school,” she explained. “I think they will continue this initiative.”

At the April 18 opening, that energy was apparent as student volunteers cheerfully greeted all comers.

“A lot of people don’t eat healthy, ” said Kevion Collins, 14, one of Treviño’s students. “They can’t go to the store to get fresh fruits and vegetables, and this will change that.”

Deshawn Bell, 15, and Keary Adams, 16, said they hope the work they’re doing will change the perception others have that Sam Houston is “a bad school.”

“That’s how kids in other districts consider us, ” Adams said quietly as he helped design signs for the market on a recent school day.

Treviño also is working to create a delivery service program around the farmers market so homebound residents can receive fresh fruits and vegetables at their doorstep.

As Treviño surveyed community garden plots at Sam Houston that were producing lettuce, herbs and artichokes, he conceded that not all the details of the project have been figured out. He and his students are learning as they go, he added.

“All I know is that this has made me a better teacher, ” he said, pausing before adding with a grin, “And you have to appreciate that.”

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