The Just One Project Rolls Out ‘Groceries on the Go’

By Doug Puppel // Photography by Juliana Puppel

In Las Vegas, “groceries on the go” can mean a quick stop at Smith’s, Albertsons, Vons or Trader Joe’s. But for many valley residents, food shopping is not that simple.

For them, Groceries on the Go is something more essential: a program of The Just One Project that brings nutritious, affordable food into neighborhoods with too few supermarkets and too much reliance on convenience stores.

Community leaders gathered this month for the launch of Groceries on the Go, a mobile market in a retrofitted school bus that serves the elderly, hard-pressed working families and those with transportation challenges.

“Groceries on the Go is not just a grocery store on wheels; it is a lifeline,” said Brooke Neubauer, founder and CEO of The Just One Project, adding that support from Southwest Gas and NV Energy allows the organization “to keep this incredible bus on the road.”

Bright pink on the outside and stocked with fresh food on the inside, The Just One Project's Groceries on the Go is designed to serve seniors, working families and others in neighborhoods with limited access to grocery stores

It is the latest tool in The Just One Project’s toolbox to fight hunger by bringing help closer to where people live. The organization provides several platforms for neighborhood-level food access, serving as a community-facing partner to Three Square, the regional food bank that supplies Southern Nevada’s hunger-relief efforts.

The Just One Project’s other food programs include Pop Up & Give Mobile Markets, which bring free groceries once a month at locations around the Valley, with volunteers distributing food to people who walk up or arrive by car. Its No-Cost Community Markets allow clients to shop by appointment for produce, pantry staples and household essentials. The organization also offers Senior Nutrition & Wellness services for older adults; Food Is Medicine Farmers Markets, focused on fresh produce and health; and the Food Rescue Alliance, which redirects surplus food from local sources to people in need.

And in the belief that better economic security is a key to fighting food insecurity, the nonprofit also offers job training and placement assistance. For more information, visit thejustoneproject.org.

Save the date: Chic Compass, in collaboration with Youth for Youth, will host Building Dreams on Oct. 15 at the Las Vegas Design Center to raise funds for The Just One Project. Readers are invited to save the date, with more details coming soon.