LAKE WALES, Fla. — Roy Leath was born and raised in Northwest Lake Wales.
“Over the years, as so-called progress took place, a lot these things fell by the wayside,” said Leath.
He said growing up the neighborhood was thriving with mom-and-pop grocers.
“Mr. Doc had a fresh produce truck and he would ride around the neighborhood and all of us kids would run out there. Then your mom would send you out there to get tomatoes,” Leath said.
However, those days are gone and fresh produce is hard to come by in this part of town.
“People need any help that they can get on any level. We desperately need it in this area because this is not a high-income area,” Leath said.
The average median income in the Northwest Neighborhood of Lake Wales is a little under $20,000 per year and many people who live there are food insecure.
The area is considered a food desert, with limited access to supermarkets and affordable and nutritious food.
“We did a little bit of an assessment of the community, and we found that in order to get access to fresh foods they had to go outside of their community, and a lot of the community does not have access to a vehicle, to be able to transport to a fresh food source,” said Jessica Napoleon, Public Health Planner for DOH-Polk.
The Florida Department of Health in Polk and the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency are partnering to develop a community garden.
The Grove Community Garden will be located at 315 Dr. MLK Blvd., across the street from Grove Manor public housing. It will supply fresh produce to residents in the Northwest Neighborhood.
“We really want to address the food insecurity within the Northwest area, but we also want to make this a destination spot. So, we’ve designed this to have raised planters. There's going to be a fruit orchard and gazebo,” said Cheryl Baksh, Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency specialist.
On April 14, members of the community are scheduled to celebrate the groundbreaking of The Grove Community Garden. DOH-Polk will be working with residents over the summer to decide how the garden will look and function.
