Past Projects
We’ve come a long way since 2013.
There have been hits and misses as we have grown, but each program helped us get to where we are today.
Here are some StarkFresh activities and services from the past.
Southeast Canton Grocery Store
In 2017, we started working on plans to renovate a vacant building in Southeast Canton and turn it into a Grocery Store with multiple area partners.
1000’s hours were spent meeting with residents, and volunteers working on cleaning out trash and debris from the building to prep it for renovation. In 2020 newer partners were brought into the project and they took the lead. In 2023, after 6 years of legwork, our nonprofit grocery store model was pushed aside to bring in a for-profit grocery store partner instead.
CLICK HERE to read our official statement regarding this project.
Corridor Farmer’s Market
In 2013, StarkFresh launched the Corridor Farmers Market in Northeast Canton.
In need of additional community support, the Stark Social Workers Network had reached out for help with its fledgling farmers market. The market was intended to remove barriers to participating in and attending a farmers market, and in doing so, change the perception among residents of color that farmers markets are only for white, privileged customers.
We invited local farmers, backyard growers, and home bakers to attend the market at a low entry cost. Since canopies, tables, chairs, and payment processing were provided, all participants needed to do was provide their wares.
The market was a great success, bringing produce and other nutritious goods into an area not known for offering fresh, high-quality food. It also created a genuine neighborhood gathering place for a few hours each week.
In 2017, StarkFresh refocused on expanding the Mobile Grocery Market initiative.
Because of its mobility, this method reaches far more community members than the farmers market was able to.
The Mobile Grocery Market sources products from vendors that were featured at the Corridor Farmers Market, and continues to make stops near the original Corridor site, so connections made as part of the original farmers market project have been preserved, and nutritious food continues to be available in the community that the market served.
Backyard Gardening Program
In 2013, StarkFresh helped 50 families from the Northeast Canton area learn how to grow vegetables successfully right in their own backyards.
This program's success is ongoing: many of the families that participated have taught others what they learned at the Urban Training Farm and at workshops throughout the region.
Monthly Documentary Film Series
In 2015, after listening to farmers market attendees and community members express interest in learning (and talking) more about things like poverty, hunger, and how to address those issues, StarkFresh began a monthly documentary film series.
Movie evenings consisted of a community discussion and a film screening.
In 2017, film screenings and discussions began to be held at partner-agency locations tied to specific programs and events.
Market CSA
In 2016, StarkFresh added a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) component to our Veggie Mobile operation.
StarkFresh's CSA worked differently than others. While a traditional CSA offers a certain number of "shares" or "subscriptions" to the public (and a share entitles consumers to a weekly box of seasonal vegetables during the farming season), we decided to provide our subscription holders with store credits that they could use at Veggie Mobile stops to pick up anything they wanted.
This meant that our CSA shareowners would only receive food that they had chosen.
In 2018, StarkFresh discontinued the CSA model altogether.
We had made our individual Mobile Grocery Market stops more efficient, and because our pricing was so affordable, it was no longer necessary to charge upfront subscription fees.
On-Demand CSA
In 2017, StarkFresh launched an On-Demand Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.
This program was similar to the Market CSA in that consumers could directly choose the produce they wanted. However, the difference was that consumers received a weekly “menu” of offerings that they could shop from and pay for online.
This program was discontinued in 2018 and reconfigured as our Misfit Market Box initiative, which was better suited for existing workplace wellness policies.
Grower’s Cooperative
The challenges of operating a mobile market, as compared to a traditional farmers market, are tied to transportation and product sourcing.
Whereas a typical farmers market consists of independent vendors who sell their own products, StarkFresh's Mobile Grocery Market required engagement with local farmers to form a grower's cooperative.
The grower's cooperative consisted of a mix of local farmers and community and home gardeners. This cooperative enabled its member producers to increase their margins and reinvest in their communities. Additionally, StarkFresh urban farming locations provided produce to the grower's cooperative.
In 2018, StarkFresh's Mobile Grocery Market began sourcing food from more traditional wholesale food channels.
This change occurred for a couple of reasons:
The growing season in Ohio is only a few months long, while StarkFresh fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the year.
StarkFresh found that partner producers were setting higher prices than StarkFresh was willing to pay to stock the Mobile.
As of 2019, the formal structure of the Growers Cooperative was no more, but its legacy continues in the lasting relationships between StarkFresh and the farmers (and among the farmers themselves) farmers involved; it also lives on in the locally sourced, high-quality produce offered by our Mobile Grocery Market.
Urban Farm Vegetable Pick-Your-Own
In 2017, StarkFresh added a pick-your-own option for anyone who wanted to visit our urban farm and connect with the produce they were purchasing.
This option was available at scheduled times by appointment only.
Unfortunately, we had only two people contact us over the course of two years, with one person wanting to pick pumpkins (which we did not grow).
As a result, this program was discontinued in 2018 so that efforts could be focused elsewhere.
JRC Learning Garden
In 2015, StarkFresh helped JRC's Learning Center (a preschool in Canton, OH) transform an underutilized outdoor space into a Learning Garden.
Built with volunteers and staffed by students and staff, this space boasted native habitats, bird feeders, a water fountain, a sensory circle, and loads of fresh vegetables within a safe and vibrant space.
The garden was designed to complement JRC's healthy eating initiatives and was aligned with their guidelines, needs, and approval.
After initially using our expertise to help build the garden and teach the staff to care for it, StarkFresh turned over the future management of the Learning Garden to JRC.
The Learning Garden still thrives at JRC today.
Edible Park Oasis
In 2015, StarkFresh was asked by our friends at the delicatessen Deli Ohio to help create a pocket park out of their unusable, damaged parking lot.
We proposed creating a placemaking space that would not only be full of artwork and seating, but also boast fresh, ripe vegetables that people could pick and snack on.
Over two fall weekends, more than 100 community volunteers donated their sweat equity to create the Edible Oasis, rendering the space virtually unrecognizable compared to what it had been before.
Management of the Edible Oasis was turned over to Deli Ohio upon completion.
Every year, volunteers grow vegetable seedlings from our Free Seed Library to plant in the park, keeping its edible tradition alive.
Labyrinth & Edible Orchard
Just as we did with our Deli Ohio partnership, StarkFresh was called on to help the Canton YWCA transform an empty lot into a space to grow food, relax, and infuse joy and relaxation into their daily lives.
Designed according to the needs and desires of the YWCA leadership, the space was fitted with a walking labyrinth, minimal seating, and several fruit trees alongside a large mural inspiring visitors to "Be the Change."
However, before the project could be fully completed, a leadership change at the YWCA altered the organization's needs, leading to a reimagining of the space that deviated from StarkFresh's original plans.
The Urban Teaching Farm
From assisting and observing participants in our backyard growing program, StarkFresh realized there was an ongoing need for gardening education throughout the community.
In 2014, StarkFresh broke ground on an old housing plot in Canton, OH, and transformed it into a farm. With 100% volunteer labor, the farm was built out in 2015 and later received a much-needed reconfiguration and general revamp in 2018 and 2019.
In 2021, StarkFresh sold the farm to a neighbor, both paying our efforts forward and consolidating our farming and retail workforce.
The Urban Teaching Farm provided a venue for all types of urban gardening and farming practices. The small, intimate setting allowed people of all ages to experience hands-on learning while also providing a space where partnering groups could teach proper gardening, farming, and food preservation practices to the general public.
The workshops, school field trips, and educational classes hosted at the farm proved to many Stark residents just how feasible it is to grow their own food.
The educational aspects of these early successes, especially those geared toward children, have largely been replicated at StarkFresh's Training Farm location.
The Cooperative Farm
Our most ambitious farm yet, StarkFresh’s Cooperative Farm was created in 2018 and 2019 with the help of countless volunteers performing thousands of hours of work.
Together, we transformed one segment of a large, under-utilized park space adjacent to a middle school in Canton, OH, into a dynamic space where community members could use the repurposed land to grow food for family consumption or sale to the community.
This 6.5-acre site enabled small business owners relying on food and medicinal plant sales to grow their products more affordably.
The farm also provided non-traditional employment and mental health opportunities for community partners, such as ICAN Housing.
ICAN Housing serves homeless persons with a history of mental illness. Through their supported employment program, participants gain job-readiness skills and receive a financial education to help prepare them to seek and retain traditional employment.
StarkFresh's Cooperative Farm exposed participants to real-world employment expectations while allowing them to take advantage of the regenerative and therapeutic qualities inherent to working with their hands in the soil.
The Cooperative Farm closed in 2021 following a restructuring of the school system and the repurposing of the land for a school-sports field expansion.
Corporate Misfit Market Boxes
Originally conceived in 2019 as a way to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to corporate clients for their staff to eat as healthy snacks, this program was officially discontinued in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the corporate office work environment with more people working staggered shifts, from home or in a hybrid work environment.
The Training Farm
In 2015, StarkFresh took over an under-utilized urban city park in a “forgotten” part of the city that had a reputation for being less than desirable.
By the following year, with the help of volunteers and countless hours of work, we had transformed the park into the StarkFresh Training Farm.
Located at 613 Rowland Avenue NE in Canton, OH, the park was designed to be a space where food could be grown on a commercial production scale and became a training facility for teaching basic job skills and how to grow plants from seed all the way to harvest. The farm also provided non-traditional employment and mental health opportunities for community partners, such as ICAN Housing, and X-Excel.
The Urban Training Farm program gave participants exposure to real-world employment expectations as they enjoyed the regenerative and therapeutic qualities of working by hand with soil, but the biggest impact was that they found a way to better discover their own self-worth.
The Urban Training Farm became a center for a variety of employment opportunities, catering to those who were struggling with poverty and trauma and looking for a way to reenter society.
In 2024, due to several factors, including the POST-COVID volunteer workforce and to allow us to put more energy into our Grocery and Kitchen program expansion, the Urban Training Farm program was discontinued.
Mobile Grocery Market
Originally conceived in 2014 as a way to provide fresh food to individuals who were low-income and had mobility challenges, over the course of the program 12,876 customers were able to visit 128 stops and access 160,277 pounds of food.
Over the 10 years of operation, different vehicles were used to provide grocery access to those who needed it most, including residents of senior housing complexes, public housing authority properties, public service centers, permanent supportive housing, and others.
This program was officially discontinued in 2024 and replaced with our online grocery store, which now provides on-demand grocery deliveries to the same individuals who previously were served with the Mobile.
