There are approximately eleven supermarkets in Brockton MA. As a growing city with over 95,594 citizens, eleven supermarkets can only be described as being insufficient. When looking at the location of these supermarkets, we see that they are in suburban areas or very close to highways or main roads.
For people with no access to transportation and the inability to travel due to distance, this fact leads to a dilemma. Karlene Palmer the director of Servant’s of Hope Food Pantry supports this claim by stating, “ So when I am done serving, I’m tired and I have my car full to go on and distribute to those who call me up to say “I don’t have a car.” Last Wednesday I served and there was a young lady who called. I say, I am wondering to myself ‘is it because she’s Asian she didn’t want to come out? Is she afraid?’”(Karlene). Through this statement we were able to recognize one of the key players in food insecurity in the city. Without the option of having someone bring the food to their homes personally, the only other choices these residents have are to travel for hours. Or whatever form of “healthy” food is available within their local mini marts or corner stores. It was even mentioned that, the food pantries sometimes lack the healthy food options. For example the director stated that, “truth be told sometimes, we don’t get a lot of fruits and vegetables, umm sometimes it’s low on the greater Boston Food Bank side because it might be that you know the season, or adjust in or order because they’re serving a lot of food banks, food pantries” (Karlene). Based on this information many can agree that, if the people of Brockton had the opportunity to eat and purchase healthier foods, they would.