Get to Know Your Double Up Ambassadors

Adrienne applied to be a Double Up Food Bucks program ambassador because she wanted to learn more about nutrition and help her community. Only later did she realize she would also be returning to her roots.

Born and raised in Detroit, Adrienne felt disconnected from her hometown when she returned after attending high school in Dearborn.

By working as a program ambassador at area grocery stores, Adrienne is now an active, more visible member of her community in Detroit. She’s even recognized off-duty!

In her role as a Double Up Ambassador, Adrienne spends two hours visiting Detroit grocery stores each day, especially on the city’s west side, to help people understand how Double Up can stretch their food dollars to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables. She sets up in the produce section with fliers and promotional materials and walks around the store to meet shoppers who may skip the produce aisle. “After the first year, I started to learn the ‘you do or don’t want to talk’ faces,” she says.

Once intimidated by talking to strangers, Adrienne has become comfortable talking to anyone. She laughs remembering a recent encounter with a shopper, in which she acted like a customer herself, saying, “That looks like a cool program,” before revealing herself as an ambassador. She describes her job as “bragging and not feeling bad about it, because it’s something that will help you.”

Adrienne has also taken an increasingly active role in helping Fair Food Network staff develop new Double Up promotion ideas. With her deep understanding of Double Up shoppers’ needs, she  pitched and co-designed with the team a new brochure aimed at the grocery shoppers she has come to know well. “Our Double Up fliers are straight to the point, but I get a lot of people who want more detail,” Adrienne says. “My job is to go into the store and talk, but when shoppers get home, they say, ‘I can’t remember what she said.’”

As a native Detroiter, an active member of her community, and a passionate ambassador, Adrienne’s experience informs Fair Food Network’s Double Up Food Bucks program.

And it helps her too, by reconnecting her with the city she loves. “Detroit is so big! And what makes it so big is the people and the life.”

Find a location in Detroit or a participating store or market near you.