During these frigid February days, the basement of Catholic Charities Midtown Center looks like little more than a place to spread out and eat your lunch without distraction. But during the warmer months ahead, the room will be filled with budget grocery shoppers looking to pick up their favorite produce.

This ground-level space is home to City Greens Produce, which opened last June as a nonprofit membership organization that supports Missouri farmers, and offers healthy options to area foodies and low-income families who are served by Midtown Center, a social service agency of Catholic Charities. The market, located in the Grove neighborhood of St. Louis, sells a range of organic foods and is the only produce seller in the neighborhood.

Those involved in the venture say it's about time that residents can walk to find affordable fruits and vegetables.

Photo by Elia Powers | Beacon staff

Members of the City Greens Produce team hope to be able to expand their operation.

“There’s so much high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases, and promoting eating healthy and actually showing people how to eat healthy is a good thing,” said Bobbie Sykes, chair of the center’s Advisory Board for Community Enterprises, which oversees the City Greens program.

City Greens is among seven finalists in the YouthBridge Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Competition, run through Washington University’s Skandalaris Center. The contest rewards socially conscious business ventures, and more than $150,000 in grant money is at stake.

The prize money could be used to spread the reach of the project by helping to fund produce trucks or other mobile markets that visit other city neighborhoods, said Ashley Getz, a case worker at the center and project coordinator for City Greens. It's likely that the main market would remain at the center.

In the years before the market opened, the group Gateway Greening allowed the center to be part of a community-supported agriculture program made possible by a federal grant. Farmers would sell $25 vegetable boxes to Gateway Greening, which cost the group only $7, thanks to the subsidies. These boxes would then be sold to low-income residents for $2.50 or $3. But the people who bought the boxes often said they didn't want all of the items inside, didn't recognize some of them or didn't know how to cook with them. And only 15 families could take part in the program.

So in 2008, the Midtown Center decided to make a change. “Because of the need for more food and for people to choose their own food, we decided that a produce market would be a better route,” said John Pachak, the center's director.

Farmers from Lincoln County, Mo., provide the organic food to the market. Last year, they delivered the in-season food on Tuesday mornings, and the market would sell the produce that day and Wednesday. Getz said City Greens served about 200 poor residents in its first season, which lasted from June through late October. There were also 70 sponsoring members.

Everyone who shops at the market pays the same price for food, which is sold tax-free. The goods are priced either at what they cost the market to buy them or at a discount. Membership dues allow City Greens to charge below the purchasing price for many items. Low-income residents who are below the federal poverty line (Midtown's constituency) get a free membership, while others who want the food pay the seasonal fee. Last year it was $80 for the 20-week market season, and this year it will likely be $100 because the season should last longer, likely from May through October. Getz said it's likely that the market will be open Thursdays, Fridays and once a month Saturdays.

Photo provided by City Greens

Not only are fresh vegetables sold at a discount, recipes are tried out at the market so people can try items they may have never had before.

Pachak said the Skandalaris judges mentioned that they like the membership idea because it puts the venture on a path to sustainability.

The center reports that City Greens Produce earned more than $11,200 last year while spending more than $9,000 on local produce. On average, 60 members shopped each week at the market, which is located at 1202 S. Boyle Ave.

During market season, the women on the advisory board that oversees the market are helping sort food, display the produce and give shoppers tips on how to cook with the items (including their own recipes). Whatever is in season -- be it green beans, watermelon, eggplant, radishes or zucchini -- goes on the tables. Samples are made by the women who work at the market.

“People come in and say, ‘I don’t like squash,' or 'I don’t like eggplant.’ But we fix it down there and they sample and like it and change their mind,” said Susie Biddle, who is also on the advisory board.

Added Getz: “Our goal is not to be a grocery store but more in line with the mission of Midtown to serve the community and try to encourage people to be healthier,” Getz said.

Biddle is co-chair of the City Greens Community Garden, which grows food that is distributed to neighborhood residents. The produce grown there isn’t sold at the market.

During the offseason, City Greens offers free-range chicken eggs, bread and coffee. “That keeps us connected to the farmers and allows people to get eggs and stay connected to the market as well,” Pachak said.