Saturday Afternoon Visit

Each time I go to my field site I get more comfortable.  Today Venda had free sample tastings of apple crisp.  They were promoting an apple peeler and a friendly gentlemen was passing out samples to everyone that seemed curious about the tray of apple crisp.  A decent amount of people were there, but most visitors and customers were there to do their food shopping or enjoy Venda's food.  I was able to stroll around the room multiple times to really get a sense of the space.  Each time I circled around the room I would notice something that I had never seen before.  It was exciting to explore the room and see all the options to pick from.  I spent my time taking visual snapshots of the room to be able to map out my field site for later use.  I over heard a lot of different conversations.  One family was getting food for the week and they were just as overwhelmed with the space as I usually am.  They all seemed to love being there even the two young children, who excitedly would show their parents the foods they found and wanted to buy.  Towards the end of my time there I picked up a white package of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to share with my roommates when I got back to RIC.  I noticed that they were not Venda Ravioli brand, but Cookie Place.  After doing some research online I discovered they are sold by Eastside Marketplace and RIC bookstore and cafeteria.  This is interesting because Eastside Marketplace is one of the main distributors to Venda as I later unveiled in other visits to Venda.  It was also a fun fact that the same cookies are sold at RIC.  These cookies are made from a non-profit organization to give job training and job opportunities to people with disabilities.  Here is a link to their website to learn more.  I know there will be more to find out with more visits and asking more questions about how Venda always has a full stock of a variety of products.