Mobile Market rescues food, feeds families — no questions asked

Photo: Waste Less Solutions

PARK CITY, Utah — On Saturday mornings, the fellowship hall at Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church transforms from meeting room to pop-up produce aisle.

Volunteers arrive around 9 a.m. to set up tables. By 9:15, “rescuers” begin unloading crates of what Shelby Cornett calls “really colorful, beautiful food that would otherwise go into the landfill.”

Cornett, Waste Less Solutions’ Summit County food waste coordinator, said the Mobile Market — part of the nonprofit’s Summit County expansion supported in part by a Park City Community Foundation Climate Fund grant tied to its Zero Food Waste efforts — has been piloted twice so far, with about 10 families coming through last weekend.

The program’s core message is simple: provide free, fresh food to anyone who needs it, no questions asked.

Participants are encouraged to bring reusable bags, but otherwise, it’s no-questions-asked, Cornett said. There are no limits — just take what you need.

She describes the effort with a short tagline: “Waste less and feed more.”

Hidden need in a high-cost community

Cornett said food insecurity can be harder to see in an affluent area, but that assumption doesn’t hold up once you start meeting people. “I think it’s a bit more hidden at times, and that maybe the need isn’t as great here,” she said. “But just in my three, four weeks of being in this role, I find that’s not true.”

Waste Less is designed to complement existing support systems — including operating on weekends, when some services are closed.

The program fills gaps for people the Christian Center can’t reach, Cornett said, particularly on weekends when that facility is closed.

From donor to table

Whole Foods is currently the main donor to the Mobile Market, with plans to add more grocers and, eventually, restaurants and bakeries.

Waste Less has about 70 volunteers who deliver two carloads of donations, ranging from baked goods to nonperishables, to the church.

To keep distribution safe, the goal is to have food out and wrapped up within a two-hour window. Anything left after the Mobile Market is not returned to the waste stream. Instead, it goes to community fridges, including one at Slopeside Village that serves seasonal J-1 workers and another at Summit County Clubhouse.

Removing barriers

Cornett said the core design choice is eliminating barriers and the sense of evaluation. Unlike traditional food banks, Waste Less is independent of the food bank network and distinguishes itself by not requiring documentation, personal records, or questions about income or citizenship, thereby maintaining participant confidentiality. “It’s just you need food. Here it is,” Cornett said.

She also has a message for people who hesitate, worrying someone else needs it more. “There’s a spectrum of need for people,” she said. “If you could utilize it, if it could be helpful to you and your family, take the food.”

Cornett said she understands that hesitation personally as someone who works multiple jobs in a single-income household. A volunteer once encouraged her to take food, too. “It’s here for anyone who feels it could support them or their family,” she said.

Early scale and future plans

Because the market is new, precise numbers are still coming into focus. But the volume adds up quickly: each crate holds about 50 pounds of food, meaning two carloads amount to hundreds of pounds, even before additional weekend fridge deliveries. As the donor base expands, Cornett said, the program could be distributing thousands of pounds.

She said success depends on what her predecessor, Julianne Carone, described as a “three-legged stool”: food donors, rescuers, and receivers.

Cornett said she has plenty of places for food — including potential partnerships in Kamas, Coalville, and Oakley. The biggest growth need is donors. She also wants to make the market more accessible with additional pop-up sites reachable by foot, bike, or public transportation.

For now, the Mobile Market runs every Saturday. Doors open at 9:30 a.m. and continue until food is gone. If there’s extra, volunteers typically hold until around 11 a.m., then pack up and deliver the leftovers elsewhere.

Waste Less also seeks volunteers, including students and kids interested in supporting service or outreach.