Produce for pennies: organization sells produce for cheap
PHOENIX (KSAZ) - The line starts forming early Saturday morning, and the bins are full of fresh produce - from cucumbers to lettuce to peppers.
"It's available to everyone," says Yolanda Soto, CEO of Borderlands Produce Rescue, an organization she started 23 years ago.
"We sit right in the center of the produce industry," says Soto. "It's billions of pounds that come across Mexico via the United States and Canada for sale because it's a consumer driven market; not everything sells."
Soto takes what isn't shipped out to major markets, brings it to the Valley, and sells it with their Produce on Wheels - With Out Waste program, or POWWOW for short.
You can get up to 70 pounds of fruits and vegetables for a donation of just 12 dollars.
"We send it to our agencies, our host sites in pallets, and then they actually set it up," Soto explains. "So it hasn't been touched yet."
Soto says anyone, regardless of residence or financial status, has the right to eat healthy - there's more than enough produce to go around.
Produce on Wheels sets up at various locations nearly every weekend of the year. Produce options depend on the season but there's always enough for everyone.