Oaks Village-Village Market

Can you imagine living without access to meat, fresh produce or dairy?

 Our neighborhood is what is known as a food desert. Many individuals in our community don’t have vehicles and don’t live in walking distance of a grocery store. Oaks Village is located in the Orchard East Community which is the poorest area in Monroe County, Michigan. Oaks began as a homeless shelters that houses approximately 400 individuals every year and serves over 50k meals to the community. In additional to a homeless shelter Oaks is also a clothes closet, food pantry, soup kitchen, furniture bank, and one stop shop for community building. Last year we opened a free childcare center and free medical clinic.  During COVID-19 the buses in our city stopped running and individuals in our community did not have access to a grocery store. Oaks decided to do something about this problem. Four months ago we took a vacant building, and we opened the Village Market which is a one of a kind non profit grocery store. The Village Market provides fresh and affordable food to our community. We are open to everyone in the community but we specifically cater to low income individuals. The Village Market employs local residents. We partnered with Meijer Grocery Store and they serve as our grocery wholesaler. We also partnered with our local health system, ProMedica, and they helped us set up the model for improving the health and wellness of our community through food access. The Village Market also features an ice cream shop where we employ local teens as part of our youth training program. Additionally, the store hosts a bakery where local up and coming bakers can feature their baked goods. We also house a beauty supply in our complex and space for local entrepreneurs to host pop up shops. Our goal is zero food waste so any food that we can’t used at the store is given to our homeless shelter and food pantry. The Village Market‘s goal is to help our community thrive. We want to help local residents have access to food and a sense of dignity. Your donations will help us with our non profit grocery store as well as help us rebuild our community. 

Thank you and we are deeply grateful for your support!