{"id":149885,"date":"2026-03-27T09:22:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/149885\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:22:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:22:06","slug":"west-philly-grocer-to-offer-hot-meals-for-snap-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/149885\/","title":{"rendered":"West Philly grocer to offer hot meals for SNAP users"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Community Grocer is also working with local health care providers like Penn Medicine and Jefferson Health on pilot programs that would provide certain populations with \u201cmedically necessary grocery stipends to increase purchasing power\u201d and ensure those in need can afford healthy food, Moraru said. For example, Penn Medicine\u2019s OB-GYN team is providing local mothers with weekly gift cards to The Community Grocer as part of a study on how healthy food affects postpartum health.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way for us to connect and fill in some of those gaps that have been disappearing,\u201d Moraru said.\n<\/p>\n

As the group prepares for the long-awaited opening of its storefront, its managers and volunteers are still prioritizing what\u2019s most important: the community. The organization has been distributing over 150 meals weekly to those in need.
\n\"APennPAC pro-bono consultants touring The Community Grocer\u2019s construction site. (Eli Moraru)\n<\/p>\n

Janice Choice \u2014 known as Chef Jamila \u2014\u00a0has volunteered with The Community Grocer\u2019s weekly meal distributions and cooks for the group on a fairly regular basis.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of seniors that I talk to [say] \u2018Wow, I can\u2019t wait till [The Community Grocer] opens, and then I don\u2019t have to worry,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cSome seniors don\u2019t have the strength or energy to cook anything, or they don\u2019t know what to do with some of the vegetables and fruit that they get, and how to get the best nutritional meal out of it. [The Community Grocer] is able to bring the fruit and vegetables and nutrition that they need as seniors to their comfort level.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

West Philadelphia\u2019s Chyrisse Blakely, known as Ms. Nikki, said she and her sons have been helping out at The Community Grocer since its inception.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cFor number one, we need to eat healthier in neighborhoods, so that\u2019s the plus for us,\u201d she said. \u201cEverybody around has been helping out the best way they can. It\u2019s just been an amazing pleasure to be involved.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

General manager Issa James wrote in a statement that The Community Grocer has partnered with local groups like Farmer Jawn<\/a>, \u201cwho owns the largest regenerative organic Black woman-owned farm in the country.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Power of Paint<\/a> co-founder Vanessa Young said that each week, The Community Grocer provides up to 25 meals for one of her organization\u2019s after-school programs, taking some of the financial burden off of the group. It\u2019s an initiative that has gained even more significance since the changes to SNAP benefits began.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur initiatives kicked off during the height of the freezes to SNAP, and that really showed what might be possible to come, and how scary food insecurity in the city could be,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s already bad enough that these young people are growing up in food deserts, but then to have programs that they\u2019ve come to lean on being taken away in such a drastic way, it really can make young people susceptible to all types of hunger and illness.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Young added that she hopes to see The Community Grocer\u2019s model replicated in Philadelphia and other cities nationwide.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the solution for food security in Philadelphia,\u201d Moraru said. \u201cEveryone is recognizing that the work our neighbors and we have been putting together is bigger than one store; it\u2019s about an entire system. Philly\u2019s doing it best, and Philly\u2019s doing it in the best way possible, and that\u2019s with community.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Community Grocer is also working with local health care providers like Penn Medicine and Jefferson Health on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7301,69,71,70,5767,877],"class_list":["post-149885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-food-insecurity","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-snap-benefits","tag-west-philadelphia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}