Riding the bus to the Franklin Farmer’s Market for the first time, 91-year-old Gertrude Josselyn said she was looking forward to buying some fresh greens.
“I haven’t had vegetables since my brother died,” she said, “in 1992.”
Plus, she added, “My doctor says I don’t eat enough greens – he says they’re supposed to keep me young!”
Josselyn was with a group of ladies from Senior Haven East housing community, many of whom had never been to their city’s farmer’s market, which is in its sixth year.
They were able to go this week, though, thanks to a bus ride from TRIP (Twin Rivers Intergenerational Program) Senior Program Center, which is offering a free, scheduled route for the first time.
A grant from Franklin Savings Bank and a partnership with the Belknap-Merrimack County Community Action Program allowed the bus to be offered this year.
Barbara Stevenson, a 76-year-old Woods Apartment resident who just moved to Franklin last winter, said she often uses the TRIP bus since she doesn’t have a car, and got to know the area through driver Gordy Welch.
Sitting in one of the rear bus seats Tuesday, Stevenson said she liked the new service to the farmers market.
“The grocery store is fine and cheaper usually, but you never know how long something has been there,” Stevenson said. “And I like to help the local people.”
Stevenson and six other women stepped off the bus in the parking lot of Franklin Regional Hospital, reusable cloth bags in hand. As they spread out among the seven vendors underneath white tents, they were greeted by vegetable, egg and meat farmers, local bakery Rollin’ in the Dough, University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension staffers, and Melissa Lee, the hospital’s community health improvement specialist.
Lee said the TRIP bus route is one of many small, new programs the Franklin Farmer’s Market is promoting in conjunction with the Franklin Healthy Eating Active Living Coalition.
“We’re trying to provide healthy food to the community,” Lee said. The UNH Cooperative Extension staffers, for instance, did food preparation demos and showed people how blueberries, vanilla yogurt and reduced fat graham crackers could make a healthy, easy snack.
Under the same tent were representatives for HEAL informing market-goers using Supplemental Nutrition Food Assistance or EBT cards that they could get up to $20 in fruits and vegetables through a Granite State Match Program.
In addition, SNAP dollars can be doubled at the Franklin Farmer’s Market.
Standing in front of a colorful array of lettuce, kale, rainbow chard and fresh picked flowers, Cora Caswell of McCrillis Hill Farm in Center Harbor said she liked that EBT and SNAP benefits were available for use at the market.
“If anything, it opens up, brings more business,” Caswell said. “It allows them to come here and shop and get local stuff.”
These programs, Lee said, are in response to various assessments showing difficulty accessing healthy food in Franklin.
“Here in Franklin, our obesity rates are higher than the state average,” Lee said. Department of Health and Human Services data show that the area surrounding Franklin – Belknap and Merrimack counties – have some of the highest prevalence of obesity in the state.
Lee said that there are other populations in the city vulnerable to poor food access. Elderly people without access to transportation is one, and then there’s 24 percent of Franklin’s population living below poverty level, according to the 2014 American Community Survey.
“We have a lot of low income families with young children,” she said. “A lot of people come to Franklin because of the resources that are here.”
Efforts for more access don’t stop at the farmer’s market, either. The HEAL Coalition is in its second year of sponsoring Harvest Boxes, or boxes offering free, leftover produce grown in the Paul Smith Elementary School community garden. Currently, boxes are open at Bessie Rowell Community Center and Franklin City Hall.
“Anybody can donate to the boxes,” Lee said, adding that the program was trying to recruit backyard gardeners. Last year, she said, “Stuff disappeared quick.”
HEAL is also working with the school district’s newly formed Wellness Committee to create healthier policies and practices, such as adding recess into the Franklin Middle School schedule.
“The schools are really engaging with that,” Lee said.
Franklin also offers free lunch Monday through Friday noon to 12:30 p.m. this summer at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Franklin. Lee said the meals are prepared by volunteers, are overseen by the Franklin Parks and Recreation Department in collaboration with the Twin Rivers Clergy Fellowship and are federally funded.
“Any child can go and get free lunch downtown,” Lee said.
One other healthy food opportunity, Lee said, is being incorporated in the doctor’s office through “fruit and vegetable prescriptions.”
“If we can get more people to eat healthy foods, hopefully they will have less health problems,” Lee said.
Back at the farmers market, Colby Morrill of Mr. Morrill’s Gardens in Franklin said an emphasis on healthy and local food is newer for the city he grew up in. And he likes it.
“I like that they’re helping the community think about eating more healthy,” Morrill said behind a table with eggs, maple syrup and rainbow chard that he produces as a hobby.
Standing by a sign reading, “Naturally grown in Franklin,” Morrill added, “Just letting people know there are healthy things going on in the community.”
The Franklin Farmer’s Market runs 3 to 6 p.m. every Tuesday this summer. To find out more information about these programs, visit Franklin Farmer’s Market on Facebook or call 934-2060 ext. 8369.
(Elodie Reed can be reached at 369-3306, ereed@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @elodie_reed.)