(ATLANTA, Ga.) — In Bankhead, access to grocery stores and fresh food has become more difficult over the last years. Capital B, a Black-owned and oriented publication with an Atlanta branch, looked into the issue in more detail in an article on their website.
Bankhead resident Jeff Jackson said “It’s kind of hard since grocery stores that we used to access used to be down the street,” discussing the Super Giant Food on Donald Lee Hallowell Pkwy which closed in 2014. Jackson, the manager of a local Checkers restaurant, started volunteering and was eventually hired by a nonprofit working to fill the gap.
20% and 18% of Black residents of Fulton and DeKalb counties, respectively, deal with food insecurity. Food insecurity is defined as being unable, financially or logistically, to consistently access adequate nutrition. By contrast, just 5% of white people in the same counties deal with the issue.
The Grocery Spot, located off Donald Lee Hallowell Pkwy in Grove Park, provides free food opportunities for low- and no-income people living in the area.
They accept donations of excess, often called ‘food waste,’ from local pantries or local for-profit grocery stores to distribute. Despite often being classified as food waste, the food is still fresh and readily consumable.
“You don’t see no healthy spots around here. You don’t see no Whole Foods. You don’t see no Publix around here,” said Jackson. “Obviously, times are hard, the economy is taking a hit. And they always got healthy stuff. They don’t just give you the junk that nobody else wants.”
Co-founder Matthew Jones, who moved to Bankhead in 2020, originally started the Grocery Spot as a for-profit business in 2021. The model didn’t last long, and the nonprofit route became the move. The Grocery Spot provides a service that Jones believes should be filled by government.
Both employees and volunteers remain committed to the cause.
“Here, there’s no ID to show, no paperwork,” said a volunteer named Ward. “Everybody don’t have money. That’s why this exists.”
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