In the middle of east Kansas City's food desert, there's finally something that isn't a mirage.
It's a food truck handing out groceries to those who usually travel far to find them.
"They said they were giving away groceries to the first 100," said Charles Wilks, who was first in line for the free groceries at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
He normally takes a 30-minute bus ride to the nearest grocery store, but the new Rollin' Grocer food truck came to him.
"This is pretty good. Pretty good," said Wilks. "It helps a lot of people."
Jessica Royer opened the grocery store on wheels with the goal of helping the 15 percent of Kansas Citians who, according to the Greater Kansas City Food Policy Coalition, struggle to find food.
"The goal is to be helpful in getting groceries into areas where there aren't groceries," said Royer.
The Kansas City Health Department worked with Rollin' Grocer to provide Wednesday's groceries for free.
Normally, the truck sells them at a low cost.
"You cannot force people to open grocery stores in areas that they may not want to open a grocery store in, but we have people like Rollin' Grocers who have a heart for the community and understand what's going with the food deserts," said Denesha Snell of the Kansas City Health Department.
Rollin' Grocer provides its location information in advance on Facebook and Twitter.
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Justin Wilfon can be reached at justin.wilfon@kshb.com.
