Mobile Farmers' Market Is Also

In The Spotlight

Local readers of the national American Profile newspaper magazine, which is included with each Wednesday issue of The Greeneville Sun, will find familiar faces on Page 4 of the magazine this week.

Rhonda Hensley, who manages Rural Resources' Mobile Farmers' Market here, has been selected by American Profile as this week's "Hometown Hero" and featured in a major article in the magazine, which has a national circulation of some nine million copies per week through newspapers in various parts of the nation.

The article includes a large color photo of Hensley talking with Edith Wright, a local customer, inside the 1991 red-and-white Chevrolet minibus that functions as the "farmers' market on wheels."

The story, written by Rebecca D. Williams of Oak Ridge, goes on to relate how the Mobile Farmers' Market was created by Rural Resources in the summer of 2005, and how it takes fresh local produce for sale out into the community during the months of May through October. Sharon Price is Hensley's assistant and driver.

Hensley herself is quoted, along with Sally Causey, executive director of Rural Resources, who explains in the article that, "While sales matter, we are focused on the potential of getting local produce into the hands and mouths of local people, especially in neighborhoods that have previously not had access to locally produced fruits and veggies."

Rural Resources itself is described as "a nonprofit organization in Greeneville dedicated to promoting family farms and environmentally friendly farming practices."

Also quoted and/or mentioned in the article are Helen Clements, Nancy Belcher, and Edith Mullins, three local customers of the Mobile Farmers' Market, and Heather Youngblood, of Afton, a farmer who "sells most of her produce to the bus."

Hometown Heroes is a regular feature of American Profile.

Look for the weekly magazine along with Wednesday's issue of The Greeneville Sun.