Food stand to offer produce in southeast Raleigh

The Raleigh Area Development Authority, a nonprofit that fosters development in southeast Raleigh, picked the organization to fill a void after Kroger closed a supermarket in the area in January, officials said.

Southeast Raleigh is recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a "food desert," an urban low-income area where the poverty rate is at least 20 percent and at least 33 percent of residents have low access to a supermarket or large grocery store.

The produce stand will operate 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday through October at Mount Peace Baptist Church, at at 1601 Martin Luther King Blvd, offering fruits and vegetables grown by local farmers and organic produce harvested from the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Teaching Farm.