Veggies on the Go One Woman's Idea Gets Quality Produce to North Lafayette Neighborhoods By Kimba Azore, The Northside Vegan
Trincella Bonnet never liked speaking in front of crowds, but on November 9, 2019, she stood in front of a large assembly, with all of her confidence mixed with butterflies in her stomach, to speak about something that she was passionate about. That evening was the evening of the 24-Hour Citizen Project and Trincella had to sell her pitch to see her dream come true. She mustered every piece of strength she could as she steered her tricycle to the stage and in a few minutes shared with everyone her dream; and she won. Trincella wanted to bring fresh produce to the McComb-Veazay community, a community that turned into a food desert within the last few decades. She wanted to see the neighborhood have an option other than the ones that were available: an option that offered fresh and living foods to a community that suffered from illness and lack of healthy food options. Her original idea was to curate a Veggie Bus of sorts. She would drive around the neighborhood selling fresh and homegrown produce at a cost that the neighborhood could afford. “I wanted to try to get the neighborhood healthy,” Trincella told me, “make a grocery store on wheels.” Her idea quickly turned into Veggies on the Go, a project that will bring produce from area farms to neighborhoods of North Lafayette. This time, to begin her venture, Trincella thought of another idea: one that was more cost-efficient and that could lead to her larger dream; delivering the veggies on a tricycle to the neighborhood and creating a pop-up market to share her locally grown produce. Trincella learned about the importance of living foods very early on in life. Her grandparents were sharecroppers in the Cecilia and Arnaudville area. Growing up, she helped them in the fields on the weekends.
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