KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Less than a week after the Sun Fresh grocery store at 31st Street and Prospect Avenue closed, leaving the surrounding neighborhood at greater risk of becoming a food desert, local groups have launched a mutual aid effort to supply fresh food to elders and families.
KC Black Urban Growers, the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council and the KC Defender are partnering to start the Hamer Free Food Program, organizers said Thursday.
The program will purchase produce directly from Black-owned farms and distribute food boxes containing vegetables, dairy and meat.
For Alana Henry, executive director of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council, community is about more than where you live; it’s about uplifting one another during the good times and the bad.
“We can’t put a dollar amount on it,” Henry said. “There is a different level of fulfillment and sense of worth and belonging when you know there are other folks who are looking out for you — other folks who will identify a need or a problem and do what they can to address that.”
Organizers said they have raised enough money to buy 667 pounds of fresh produce, which will feed about 50 households.
The produce will be purchased from Young Family Farm KC, Global One Urban Farming, Sankara Farm, Ophelia’s Blue Vine Farm and Pearl Family Farm.
“Being in a food desert has to do with distance to a full-service grocery store and also the level of poverty in the area,” Henry said. “Yes, we have Aldi, yes, there’s Costco, but it’s not the same for the average person. Aldi is not a full-service grocery store, and Costco requires a membership.”
The Ivanhoe Neighborhood Center will serve as a pickup site, and home delivery will be available for residents with transportation and mobility barriers.
The program is named in honor of Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil rights activist who helped found the Freedom Farm Cooperative in 1969.
“At the end of the day, it’s the community that’s going to do the best job of supporting the community,” Henry said. “This initiative is a testament to that collaboration and the uplifting of each other.”
The first distribution is slated for the third week of September, with a second distribution planned for October. To sign up for the program or to volunteer, complete this form.
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