3 minute read
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.
She worked on 9 to 10 acres of land helping to harvest corn, potatoes, peppers and cotton. This was the basis for her knowledge of farming and now she, with a little help from family and friends, is managing the McComb-Veazey Homegrowers Community Farm located in the McComb-Veazay neighborhood. The farm’s harvest will sit in Trincella’s tricycle basket as she steers her way to the 1st Sunday Produce pop-up which is held on the first Sunday of each month at the McComb-Veazay community house.
During the last few months of 2019, Trincella worked hard to pitch her idea to the 24- Hour Citizen Project to obtain funding for her initial venture. She learned as much as she could from owning this type of business and surrounded herself with people who wanted to see her dream transpire as much as she did. The night that she had to deliver her pitch, her thoughts raced and her stomach fluttered. She worked so hard and wanted this so much. She walked up in front of a large audience and spoke to them the same way she spoke to everyone else about her project. Her strength and love for her community beamed across the room as she spoke. She did not falter. Trincella told me that was the first time she spoke in front of a large group by herself.
That night she won the money that she needed to begin the project and since then, she has been harvesting her crops and hosting the 1st Sunday Produce pop-up at the community house.
Trincella learned a lot during her time of interacting with others to project her venture off of the ground. She left me with this as we spoke one afternoon in the McComb-Veazay community house, “I want the community to have quality produce that’s affordable.”
Many people delivered ideas to her that consisted of obtaining produce that was almost dead as a cheaper option to begin the market. “My community deserves better,” Trincella said as she sat across from me with seriousness in her eyes. At that moment, we looked at each other and knew that this was the stepping stone to her larger dream and that she will have an impact on the community that she could have never imagined.
You can follow Veggies on the Go on Facebook @Veggies on the Go. Although pop-ups were suspended for a few months due to Covid-19, the next one is scheduled for July 5th. On the Veggies on the Go Facebook page, you can find the event dates for 1st Sunday Produce hosted by Veggies on the Go and other pop-ups where Trincella will be selling her homegrown produce.
