Atlanta residents living in areas deemed “food deserts” will soon have more options for finding nutritious and affordable food.
One of the sites that will become a mecca for residents looking to fill their fridges and pantries is a decommissioned Family Dollar in the Adamsville neighborhood. The site, located at the 3500 block of Martin Luther King Drive SW, will become a Community Food Pantry.
Other sites are getting a food access makeover, which is welcome news to Sweet Auburn resident Mary Jenkins.
“It's very hard," Jenkins said, who has been living in the neighborhood for 14 years. She said finding fresh and affordable food has always been an issue.
Thursday, the City of Atlanta, in concert with Invest Atlanta, announced that $2.5 million will be spent on five sites, including two in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood, to address this issue.
“All of these things are providing food access directly to the community at affordable prices so that seniors and residents of our community can have access to food," Mayor Andre Dickens said.
The Invest Atlanta Board met and approved five grants that will go toward increasing food access in the city.
Included sites are: The Community Food Center in District 10, the City of Refuge Transformation Center in District 3, the Sweet Auburn Municipal Market in District 5, the Goodr Commercial Food Pantry in District 5 and the Yellow Store in District 3.
Residents like Jenkins said the projects will be a huge help to older Atlantans.
“There are a lot of elder people who can not afford to tote groceries and push carts and things like this," said Jenkins.
Most of the projects are slated to open up sometime in 2025.
Renovations on the former Family Dollar will start in January, and the store's projected opening date is the summer of 2025. It will feature a unique food pantry model that will allow residents to come in and choose the food and household items they want.