Approximately 2.3 million people in the US live in food deserts. So what exactly is a food desert? The USDA defines it as “urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.” Instead of grocery stores, these communities may have no food access or be dependent on fast food restaurants and convenience stores. Today all across the country advocates are working hard to turn food deserts into locales with access to reliable, affordable and healthy food options like fresh fruits and vegetables.

Living in a food desert isn’t just unhealthy; it’s also inconvenient and costly. Food deserts can often isolate locals, forcing them to travel as much as an hour or more to access a full service grocery store, or make frequent trips to the convenience store to piece together meals. This further burdens the elderly, disabled and low-income individuals for whom transportation is a barrier. Corner stores don’t often carry the required items for a balanced, nutritious diet, and the meager selection of healthy food that may be available is usually very expensive.

A food desert was something that never affected me directly: I knew access to a balanced diet could be difficult to obtain, but to what extent? I had access to grocery stores throughout my town, but my perception changed when it hit close to home and affected those I loved. My hometown of Hughes, Arkansas, with a population around 1400, had one full service grocery store and two corner markets. Residents of the town as well as its rural populations shopped at the town’s only full service grocery store, Lock’s, to meet their grocery needs. In 2012, however, Lock’s was damaged by fire and smoke and had to close. This mishap severely affected residents who are now forced to drive to West Memphis, or Forrest City, both of which are 35 to 40 miles away. Residents get the items they can at a local Dollar General store, or they go to Junior’s corner store for some prepared meal items. This predicament is putting pressure on residents’ incomes, since most of the people who stay in town are living in poverty or just above the poverty level.

A recent feasibility study was conducted in Hughes. The study showed that a grocery store was unfeasible because the town lacked the economic power to support it. The town has been losing its population― and therefore its tax base― because jobs have declined over the past few years.

So what will become of the people living in the middle of this east Arkansas food desert? It’s hard to say, but the mayor of Hughes, Mayor Owens, stated that the town is looking for a possible investor to establish a grocery market. They have yet to find an investor or other funding.