ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — According to the North Carolina Justice Center, our state has the 10th highest rate of food insecurity in the nation.

And 590,000 households don’t have enough to eat each day. But one company in Rocky Mount is trying to change that.

What You Need To Know

  • Ripe Revival delivers products and grocery boxes directly to the homes of customers

  • The nonprofit arm of its business, Ripe for Revival, aims to help communities through food

  • One way it does that is with its mobile market

  • It's a converted city bus that acts as a grocery store on wheels and operates as a pay-what-you-can market

Ripe for Revival has launched its first mobile market. Its goal is to help connect communities with healthy and nutritious foods. The converted city bus acts as a pay-what-you-can market for customers.

“For us, we like to say we are bridging the gap between farm excess and food access," said Ripe Revival founder Will Kornegay. "So it’s not just about those that are food insecure, (although) that is a major driver of what we do, but it’s also about the farmer. It's about how do we utilize 100% of what they grow. This bus is a good way to bridge that gap.”

The mobile market travels to locations across the state. Customers can choose from North Carolina produce, meat, eggs and more. Then they can either pay the suggested price of the items or what they can afford.

“What that means is that some of the community members are able to support the others and that we are able to continue offering this service because it’s a sustainable model where communities are supporting communities, neighbors are supporting neighbors," Kornegay said. "And I think everybody finds great joy in being able to shop on this bus and not only have access to (food)…but to be a solution to provide that access.”

Kornegay has plans to expand the fleet of buses to five. The buses will then travel to 18 counties in eastern and northeastern North Carolina.

Ripe Revival is hosting a mobile market 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Aug. 11 at St. Mark AME Church in Rocky Mount.

One way you can support the mobile market is through its Reviving the Supper Club Chef Series. The fundraiser lets participants buy tickets to a virtual cooking class with a North Carolina-based chef. The next one is Nov. 15.

Folks can also donate directly via this link to Ripe Revival.

The nonprofit is searching for community partners that would like to be host sites for the mobile market. Interested organizations can email info@riperevival.com or info@ripeforrevival.com