(upbeat music) - [Lidia] It is called District 10 Market, and it's the first free shopping experience in the country supported by legislation.

- There's so many possibilities if people and government and philanthropy come together.

- [Lidia] The city of San Francisco, local non-profit Bayview Senior services and the community partnering to ensure access to fresh foods in the neighborhood.

- Here in Bayview, there are very few opportunities for people to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.

- [Lidia] Market director Maggie Shugerman and a small staff run the show, purchasing products, managing food donations, and directing the volunteers needed to get the shelves ready each day.

- We get here around eight o'clock, produce comes in and then we start filling the fridge and the shelves, the berries, the apricots, the avocados, the figs, the cherry tomatoes.

Those are all farm direct from local California farmers.

On top of that, we work with the local food bank.

We work with a few different food pantries in the area.

When they have extra food, they bring it here.

We're kind of a clearing house, which also helps reduce waste and keeps our costs down.

And then we purchase a lot of stuff in bulk so that we can repack it.

- [Lidia] The market's regular volunteers make it all possible.

- Food when it's being given or donated, usually whatever they have, you get a box.

But here, everything was lined up just like a regular store.

- Welcome to the market.

Wanna give you a little overview of the space and introduce you to the people who make it all possible.

- Oh, that's great.

- There is not one full service grocery store in the area.

This is the meat and dairy section, which we can get.

It's not just about not being able to afford food, but the access to food.

I really wanna show you our produce aisle.

This is kind of.

- This is beautiful.

- What we're known for.

- This is beautiful.

Shopping is connecting with the food.

Look at this cabbage, great.

You know how you tell a good cabbage, if it's firm.

- Absolutely.

- If the head is firm.

Nice, beautiful.

My best way of cooking is seeing some good products, smelling it, tasting it, sort of feeling it, and then, ah, this is what I'm gonna cook with.

- I wanna introduce you to Diego over here.

He is one of our longtime volunteers.

- Hi, Diego, Why do you do such a beautiful job?

- We live in the neighborhood, so we feel like we want to give back to the community.

We wanna strengthen the community, and food is a big, you know, part of it.

(Diego speaking foreign language) - [Maggie] We have about six staff and then the rest of the operation is volunteer based, so absolutely crucial to our operation.

We have Caroline here.

- Hi.

- Caroline.

- Nice to meet you.

- Broken arm and all.

- And she's still here.

- You're still here, - Yeah.

- Hi, Rosco.

- Hi, how you doing?

- All right.

You are a volunteer here as well?

- Yes, ma'am.

- All right.

How long since?

- It's been now two months now in this spot.

- It always amazes me how many people from all walks of life really give of themselves and want to be part, want to give in some way.

- This is Carmela.

- Carmela, (speaking foreign language) how did you get involved?

- As a former farmer and as a mother, makes me feel great because health is, wealth, there is nothing more important.

- If we have healthy people, healthy neighborhood, we have a healthy nation.

- That's correct.

- All right, it's all about good food.

(soothing music) - When it's one o'clock and we're ready for service, we start calling numbers.

- 26.

- [Maggie] Everybody has a card with a barcode on it, so it's gonna get scanned.

Then they're gonna grab one of our shopping carts and start going down the aisles (upbeat music) - To be able to choose what you want, you know which vegetable you want with your chicken, which starch you want, and all that.

It kind of puts you in control, maybe in a situation that you do not have control of your life.

It's very empowering.