Healthy Corner Store Initiative Spreads In Asbury Park
Program Aims To Combat Childhood Obesity By Offering Healthier Food Options & Nutrition Education
The AP Deli, located on Atkins Avenue, has joined the Healthy Corner Store movement aimed at combating childhood obesity rates in Asbury Park.
A joint venture between the Mayor’s Wellness Committee and EZ Ride, the program seeks to offer those 
who depend on a bodega as their primary source for buying groceries more nutritious options.
“Many communities do not have large grocery stores within easy walking distance for residents,” local program administrator Lisa Lee of EZ Ride said. “The local corner store may serve as a primary destination for food shopping.”
Launched in 2016, the state program is administered locally through a $5,000 grant by The Food Trust, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Heart Association, and the New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids.
The local program has served 250 people to date through three informational events focussed on educating owners and shoppers on healthier food options. The community-based events feature free healthy food samples, coupon distributions, a healthy food basket raffle, and health screenings.
“Studies have shown that many kids are now being diagnosed with high cholesterol and Type 2 Diabetes because they are eating unhealthy foods and not getting enough physical exercise,” Lee said. “In the past, these chronic diseases were only found in middle aged adults.”
AP Deli joins La Tapatia on Main Street, Prime Convenience Store on Asbury Avenue, Sheffield’s Market on Bangs Avenue, Home Drug Store on Main Street, and Dark City Grill on Asbury Avenue in moving away from a common source of junk food and soda to venues that offer healthier food options.
“We have partnered with stores that are located near the elementary and middle schools because we especially want to encourage students to eat healthier,” Lee said. “EZ Ride assists store owners to sell healthier foods by offering training, marketing equipment, financial incentives and the know-how to promote healthier food sales.”
Each of the community events are advertised through multi-language fliers to attract the diverse demographic that live near the corner stores, Lee said.
On Wednesday, an event held at Sheffield’s Market not only included healthy eating habit handouts but also those on marijuana impact and smoking cessation, eating healthy on a budget, how to order healthier fast food, and tips for healthy kids’ meals and snacks.
Sheffield’s Market has not only added kiwi, cantaloupe, fruit cups, and oranges to its offerings but has stopped selling single roses in plastic tubes because the tubes are often used as drug paraphernalia, Lee said.
The winner of the coveted healthy food basket was Markens Olivier, a Martin Luther King Jr Middle School student. Lee said his friend Peter [shown in photo] picked up the basket because Olivier was participating in the school’s after school wrestling program.
The Healthy Corner Store initiative continues from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Feb. 28 at Home Drugs Pharmacy, located at 814 Main Street. On the bill will be free healthier snacks, coupons for free healthy items, and free health screening by Hackensack Meridian Health.
For more information, visit www.ezride.org, njhealthycornerstores.heart.org, njymca.org, or thefoodtrust.org.
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