Southeastern N.C. — Older adults across New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties will have easier access to fresh, locally grown produce this fall, as the Wilmington-based nonprofit Feast Down East relaunches its Senior Mobile Market Voucher Program after a funding-related pause.
The program, which previously ran in 2023 and 2024 before being put on hold, is returning with new support from the Duke Energy Foundation and the Catherine Kennedy Home Foundation. It works alongside Feast Down East’s existing Mobile Farmers’ Market, a refrigerated van operation that already travels to senior centers, low-income housing communities and other gathering spots throughout the region. Under the voucher program, any senior visiting one of those mobile market stops is eligible to receive weekly vouchers they can redeem for fresh fruits and vegetables grown by local farmers.
Organizers say the need is real and, in some cases, easy to overlook. According to Feast Down East, seniors make up roughly 35% of the Mobile Market’s customer base, and many live on fixed incomes or face transportation barriers that make regular grocery trips difficult. About 11% of the program’s senior customers use SNAP or EBT benefits, the organization said, while others earn just enough to fall outside assistance programs yet still struggle to afford fresh food consistently.
“Many of the seniors living in our community struggle to access healthy foods at affordable prices,” Susannah Spratt of Feast Down East told WECT, adding that even seniors who do receive SNAP benefits often find the assistance falls short of covering fresh produce.
The Mobile Market’s senior-focused stops span a wide swath of the Cape Fear region. In New Hanover County, the market visits the county Senior Center along with satellite locations in Carolina Beach and Castle Hayne. In Brunswick County, it stops at senior centers in Calabash, Supply and Shallotte, as well as several low-income senior housing communities. Feast Down East has said any senior attending a market day, regardless of location, can take part in the voucher program.
Beyond the produce itself, organizers point to a less tangible benefit: the markets double as informal gathering spots where seniors run into neighbors and catch up, something that matters in communities where isolation can be as much a challenge as food access. Feast Down East, which grew out of a University of North Carolina Wilmington-affiliated food systems program, has spent the past several years expanding its mobile market footprint and partnerships with regional healthcare providers as part of a broader push to treat food access as a public health issue, not just a charitable one.
For seniors and family members in the Cape Fear region hoping to take part, the simplest way in is to show up at any scheduled Mobile Market stop — Feast Down East publishes its rotating schedule for New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties on its website.