WOMEN OF WESTERN NEW YORK

U r b a n F r u i t s & V e g g i e s
Do The Healthy Thing
Buffalo
llison DeHonney is a former accountant executive
with TransUnion who, after talking with members of the
community and doing her research, found that there was
a dire need for fresh fruits and vegetables in Buffalo’s
urban communities. Buffalo’s low birth rates, premature
birth rates, obesity problems, high cholesterol issues,
high diabetes rates, and cardiovascular problems were
not things Allison was willing to accept. She took
action and launched her privately owned company,
“Buffalo Urban Fruits and Veggies,” and has been
opening our community’s awareness to healthier
eating choices and an overall healthier lifestyle.
Buffalo Urban Fruits and Veggies provides a mobile
produce market, urban gardens, corporate wellness
programs, and also works with insurance carriers
to provide farmers’ markets to economically
disadvantaged areas. Allison’s company also sells
produce to stores and restaurants. Additionally, Urban
Fruits and Veggies has, at the request of Blue Cross Blue
Shield, began bringing in fresh fruits and vegetables
for their employees.
Despite her company’s success, Allison is still looking
to push for growth and is determined to put Buffalo on
a healthy path. To achieve this goal she has brought on
a full time nutritionist and has teamed up with Harmac
Medical Products located on Bailey and Genesee and
the University of Buffalo’s Architect Team. Together they
will launch the Bailey Green Project. This project will
consist of building six green houses along with more
community gardens, a fruit orchard, and a healthy
cafe with two apartments on top. The project has been
entered into the 53rd annual International Making
Cities More Livable Design Competition in Rome,
Italy June 13-17. Her company will also work with the
City’s Office of Strategic Planning to expand on her
current three lots she has on Dupont and Glenwood.
She will be adding 9 more lots that will be available
for fresh fruits and vegetables. Allison believes the
best way to break unhealthy eating habits is through
education. “It is difficult to go from fast food to kale
salads.” To close this gap, she also offers raised beds
or untreated wooden boxes that are filled with soil and
seeds where she shows community members how to
grow particular fruit and vegetables and what’s needed
to maintain them. Raised bed stems are used because
much of the city ground not suitable be used for
growing; these beds are an effective growing alternative.
Just when you thought this powerful woman to watch
was done with her mission to transform the eating
culture in Buffalo, she proves again she isn’t done
yet. Allison wants to bring the Fruits and Vegetables
Prescription Program to Buffalo. Patients would go to
their physician and if he or she didn’t have a nutritionist
on staff Allison would provide one. You would be
diagnosed based on your health findings and be
provided with a specific prescription for the fruit and
vegetables your body needs. This prescription can then
be brought to any of the Urban Fruits and Vegetables
mobile stations. This ingenious planning is why Allison
DeHonney is truly a woman to watch. Her innovation
and passion for a healthier Buffalo is motivating. She’s
not all about the bottom line, either. Her company
provides fruit and vegetables to organizations such as
Friends of the Night and other shelters that desperately
need the food. She strongly believes that when you
put the work in, the money will follow. Allison is a
mother, daughter, wife, and entrepreneur who believes
it is up to all of us to break the pattern of unhealthy
eating habits and provide better food options to
the next generation of Buffalonians.
Allison DeHonney
Urban Food
by Chris Killings
Allison DeHonney
photo by Xavier’s