WOONSOCKET, R.I. — The streets of the sixth largest city in Rhode Island are mostly deserted at noon. Broken glass litters sidewalks in front of abandoned storefronts. A few people linger outside the door of a social service agency in search of something to eat. Others sit on the steps of a church, waiting for volunteers at the meal site to open the doors.
The 8-square-mile city is considered the largest food desert in Rhode Island. In June, city councilors voted 4 to 3 against a resolution that would have paved the way to develop a city-run food hub on Social Street, calling the terms of the lease from the federal government too onerous. The decision underscores how difficult it is for many here to get a good meal, and how much they depend on a network of nonprofits who are working to fill the community’s needs.
There is only one grocery store within Woonsocket city limits: a Price Rite on Diamond Hill Road, about 3 miles from the city’s center. A Stop & Shop in North Smithfield is about 3 miles from the city center in the opposite direction.
A food desert means at least one-fifth of residents live in poverty and at least one-third live more than a mile from a supermarket, according to the US Department of Agriculture designation. Other, smaller food deserts exist in parts of Providence, Warwick, Johnston, Pawtucket, Cranston, and other areas in Rhode Island.
Talk about opening a large supermarket has circulated in the city for years, but nothing has come to fruition. Between boarded-up storefronts, however, a few unlocked doors offer relief. A small team of nonprofit leaders have worked together for years to offer food and other resources to the city’s 43,000 residents.
“There’s nothing here locally for anybody,” said Norman Boutin, who runs free Sunday meals in the parking lot of Bouley Field, a local park. “Even at stores like Price Rite, food is expensive. Or, it’s not on the shelf.”
Mayor Christopher Beauchamp said he was disappointed by the council’s vote against the $3 million federal grant from the US Economic Development Administration to develop a food hub.
“I would’ve loved to have given it a try,” he said.
The Rhode Island Food Council estimates one in three Rhode Islanders struggle with food insecurity, which leads to an increased risk for health disparities, including obesity and diabetes. The poverty rate in Woonsocket — 19.2 percent, and 31 percent for children under 18 — is higher than the state’s average, according to US Census data. And at 5.7 percent, the unemployment rate is the second highest in the state.
Around 12,000 people — or about 28 percent of Woonsocket’s population — receive federal food assistance money that is electronically transferred onto Electronic Benefits Transfer cards on the first of each month, according to the state’s Department of Human Services.
Those with access to a car can get to the Price Rite on Diamond Hill or the Stop & Shop in North Smithfield for groceries, but many residents do not have access to transportation and have expressed frustration with the lack of buses shuttling in and out of the city.
Christa Thomas-Sowers is a coordinator at the Community Care Alliance, which offers more than 40 service programs to those facing challenges of poverty and homelessness. She invites residents into the facility for anything from a cup of coffee to shelter.
Though her job can be grueling, Thomas-Sowers said she knows many in the city wouldn’t survive without the help she and other nonprofits provide.
“There’s one good meal a day in Woonsocket,” she said.
Still, some city leaders seem convinced the city is “Getting it Done!,” which is Woonsocket’s official slogan.
Beauchamp said attracting a grocery store remains a main priority as mayor. Some developers are interested, though he said he doesn’t want to disclose any more information until papers are signed.
“Not everybody’s going to get what they want, or the money that they want, but at least we’ve had conversations,” Beauchamp said. “You may not get what you need today, but down the road, who knows?”
City Council President John Ward, who is running against Beauchamp for mayor in the Sept. 10 primary, was one of the four councilors who voted against the food hub resolution, saying the 15-year mortgage the federal government wanted “came with so many strings attached.” He said the hub, which would involve hiring private food vendors, should be steered by an outside nonprofit instead.
Woonsocket was once one of the largest textile manufacturing centers in the United States. But after a prosperous century, mills moved to where cotton was cheaper. A banking crisis in the 1990s put an end to the local financial industry.
On many days, hungry residents line up for meals at churches and in parking lots around the city.
Sunday attracts the largest crowd of residents for the meal hosted in Bouley Field’s parking lot. On a Sunday in late March, kids ran around playing with bubbles. Trucks pulled up and unloaded fold-up tables and brown packaged bags of Easter candy. The main meal was served in takeout containers, and groups of residents peeled off to eat their food while sitting on the metal rails along the outside of the field.
Jeanne Michon, who grew up in Woonsocket, has been helping feed others in the city for 38 years. The youngest of seven children, she said she was the first member of her family to graduate from college.
Michon remembers opening her bedroom window at night as a child to watch teenagers driving up the block to go to the movie theater and Jack In The Box on Diamond Hill, both of which are now closed.
After graduating from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, she returned to help in the best way she knew: by making food. Her organization, New Beginnings, hosts a freshly cooked lunch four days a week. Michon serves hundreds of residents at the meal site held at St. James Episcopal Church. Resident favorites include her beef chop suey and classic meatloaf.
Daniel Coleman, 44, lives in an affordable housing unit and works for a local transportation company. He relies on New Beginnings for meals and said Michon “doesn’t turn anybody away.”
Coleman said things could get better if local officials address the development needed to create opportunities for residents.
“I can’t tell you how often I drive down the road and I see there are people who have nowhere to go,” he said. “They’re just walking around.”
This story has been updated to reflect that the Sept. 10 mayoral primary is nonpartisan.
Alexa Coultoff can be reached at alexa.coultoff@globe.com. Follow her @alexacoultoff.