TROY - Capital District Community Gardens is excited to announce that The Veggie Mobile, its innovative "produce market on wheels" serving low income urban neighborhoods, has been named a finalist in Changemaker's "Designing for Better Health" competition.  A panel of judges selected The Veggie Mobile as one of just ten finalists from a worldwide field of entries.

The Veggie Mobile, launched in 2007, makes regularly scheduled stops at inner-city locations in Albany, Schenectady and Troy from Tuesday through Saturday each week.  The colorful, music-piping box truck, quickly setting up steps and a ramp, converts into a small shop offering a surprisingly large variety of fruits and vegetables at wholesale prices.  As easy on the environment as it is on shoppers' budgets, The Veggie Mobile runs on bio-diesel fuel and powers its refrigeration units with solar panels atop the truck's cargo box.

The final stage of the "Designing for Better Health" competition is a vote by visitors to the Changemakers web site.  The Veggie Mobile's entry, along with those of the other nine finalists, can be seen at www.changemakers.net/designingforbetterhealth. Registration, which is free of charge, is required to vote for finalists; votes must be placed by Thursday, May 28.  The top three vote-getters among the submitted ideas and programs will be announced as winners.

"We're honored that The Veggie Mobile is a finalist in this competition," said CDCG Executive Director Amy Klein. "The prestige of the sponsoring organizations and the global scope of the entries make this a very important milestone in the history of The Veggie Mobile and Capital District Community Gardens."  She notes that, while the $5,000 award given to the three winners would come as a welcome infusion of support for The Veggie Mobile, the worldwide exposure and recognition from this award would be invigorating.