You heard it before from other people raised in a low-income household— “I never knew I was poor”. That was also the case for me. We shopped at Food4Less, a low-income neighborhood grocery store whose name kind of hints at it's food quality. We’d walk home with the groceries and I remember having to switch the milk jug from one hand to another after one got tired from it’s weight. I remember having to constantly change my grip of the bags because the plastic handle would narrow into my hand and cut off my circulation.

Raised by a single mom, my two sisters and I were on government assistance. We’d get a special little blue card that held our monthly allowance for groceries. Sometimes, my older sister and I would go to the gas station with the Link card and I’d get some cheap candy bars.

It wasn’t until I got older and heard of “food apartheid” that I started to become curious of grocery store conditions and food access for low-income areas. I had no idea of the discrepancy. So, I wanted to fix it. Confession: Feed The Land was not my first idea. My first idea was to basically send low-income families on glorified shopping sprees. I called it “The Food Desert Project” but I soon realized, after concerned conversations with the board, and actually visiting a high-end grocery store myself that that idea wasn’t going to work.

Watch video below to view the moment I realized it wouldn’t work.

I now know in order to remedy this problem, we have to go to the source— Our farmers and our land.🌱

Thank you for your generosity!🌿