it's a catch-22 people in urban communities often face health challenges but can't easily fix them because they don't have access to the same healthy food options as many in Suburban communities and Patterson's no exception known as a food desert because of its lack of supermarkets well for one Patterson resident that simply wasn't good enough so she set out to create a better Community by making a better Market Melissa Rose Cooper reports as part of our ongoing Series Chasing the Dream that focuses on Justice poverty and Economic Opportunity we eat out of tradition we eat out of what we only had our ancestors had back in the day and that's why we have our health issues concerns Shawna manridge says are problematic within the black community we have the high blood pressure the diabetes the high cholesterol all of those kidney failures things if we eat healthier we could be healthier so man Ridge is working to make that happen with her online Supermarket a better Market where she sells food and produce sourced from local farms and small businesses at an affordable price it's an initiative she decided to make a reality during the pandemic during covet I was home hosting children with online learning and went to one of our local supermarkets to get a box of cereal and the cereal was 9.54 cents as I was driving around there was no other store that had a quality box of cereal at a reasonable price marriage then making the decision to give back to her community by offering goods from black owned businesses like Smith poultry in Williamstown owner Kyle Smith says working with her was an easy decision you're connecting that bridge for the Next Generation to buy food in a non-conventional way how we've been doing it in our culture for years me personally I come for the chicken thighs nice and pink nice and fluff um it's not the overly sized no still red chicken thighs you get that in the shop right in other places Rodney Addison is a regular Shopper at a better Market as a nutritionist he says the online Supermarket is a plus in the community Patterson is one of 65 food deserts here in the state of New Jersey we will have to go to that of a Walmart to say something decent that is nutritionally dense knowing that we want to go to Trader Joe's but economically we can't afford it so when we get substances as uh what Shayna brings to us at a beta a better Market it's the closest thing to will be known as Farm to Table where there's no middleman of distribution it goes right from Farm we come directly to the location we pick up we purchase and we enjoy but earlier this week the Patterson Health Department ordered man Rich to shut down a better market for failure to have a proper license to sell out of her home marriage believes the decision is unfair since an ordinance for online businesses doesn't exist but she says she's working with the city to comply with its requirements as stressful as it can be at times this is what I was supposed to do I love that my customers are coming here and telling me that their numbers are gone down because they're eating better their numbers um their doctor they're losing weight that um when my customers come in and they're going we don't have to pick and choose over the quality because everything is good I love the fact that I have such support from my my community my customers are amazing I love them with everything and they just come and they just know that they're going to get the best from from me for now man Rich says she's allowed to sell her products at pop-up shops around the city she's also in the process of raising money so she can open a brick and mortar location and continue her commitment to uplifting her community for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper major funding for Chasing the Dream is provided by the JPB foundation with additional funding from the Peter G Peterson and Joan Gantz Cooney fund [Music]