The smell of fresh coffee emits from the second floor of Circle of Hope, located on Frankford Avenue and Norris Street, as the Kensington Community Food Co-op (KCFC) sets up for their Tuesday market place.
With fresh produce, honey, teas and a variety of other goods offered at the market place, the members and non-members who shop there are only getting a sample of what will be sold at the new grocery store.
While the grocery store isn’t built yet, plans are in the process for a grocery store to go up in the intersection of Frankford Avenue, Coral Street and Lehigh Avenue.
The project will cost about half a million dollars, said Gail Szczesniak, the grocery operations team chair.
Fundraising is a big part of the process. Not only will member fees help with the cost, Szczesniak said they would have to apply for grants, take out loans and also go to the bank.
“Hopefully the store will have a very big impact,” said Thomas Berg who is on the
planning and finance committee and board member of the KCFC. “We intentionally targeted store locations that would have a big impact on the economic development within Kensington.”
Once the store is built, Berg said they would start doing educational programs, such as cooking classes, and out reach programs that could offer free memberships.
“We want to be a community meeting space,” said Berg.
https://vimeo.com/99189621]
– Text, images and video by Anna Ryan.
Be the first to comment