Mobile markets have popped up across VA and the nation as an innovative model to address food insecurity while also supporting local farms. From direct-marketing farmers to big-sized grocery outlets, there are as many models for mobile markets as there are organizations that operate them. Join Sam, Analise and Kate as they share the successes, opportunities, and challenges of operating mobile markets, and explore whether the model is right for you and your community.
Presented By:
Sam Lev, Director of Programs and Operations, LEAP
Analise Adams, Program Director, Shalom Farms
Katie Struble, Mobile Market Manager, LEAP
About the Presenters:
Sam Lev, Director of Programs and Operations, LEAPSam Lev is co-Director of LEAP. Having started LEAP’s Mobile Market in Roanoke in 2015, he has 5 seasons of experience starting, growing, and now overseeing Mobile Market operations, as well as consulting with other interested organizations. Hailing from Georgia, Sam has a background in the culinary field, working as cook, baker, and pastry chef. He’s passionate about running, good food and drink, and connecting people.
Analise Adams is the Program Director at Shalom Farms. She comes to this work passionate about supporting communities in cultivating healthier, more equitable spaces for all, and loves every opportunity to bring people together around food and good conversation. Through her work supporting the food access programs at Shalom Farms, she loves getting to know folks from every walk of life, and sharing realistic, family-friendly, healthy, and delicious ways to fall in love with vegetables. You can most often catch her hanging out at a mobile market or delivering produce to local corner stores, brainstorming delicious veggie-centric dinner ideas, or coming up with new crazy ideas to change how we think about and access food as a community.
Katie Struble, Mobile Market Manager, LEAPKatie spent 2019 as LEAP’s Mobile Market Manager, serving local produce to communities around Roanoke and managing the complex logistics of Mobile Marketing. A Roanoke native and animal lover, Katie loves cooking and operates a small business producing and selling unique fermented foods with locally grown produce.
