Gunna’s Drip Closet And Goodr Grocery Store operates much like other grocery stores. It has food and household essentials with regular operating hours, but there are a few key differences between this shop and your local corner store. For one thing, everything is free. For another, it’s located inside a Georgia middle school.
This innovative approach to addressing food insecurity is a collaboration between food waste company Goodr and rap star Gunna. Located in Ronald McNair Middle School in Atlanta, the store has healthy food options, fresh produce, and toiletries. Students can use an app to reserve their shopping time and are even provided with a free reusable tote to take home what they need. Parents are also given the opportunity to use the store and can even use the app to request items they would like to see offered.
Social entrepreneur and Goodr CEO Jasmine Crowe told NPR, “We were really conscious of making sure that we were providing items that the kids could make themselves because the principal let us know that a lot of these kids, when they leave school, they are essentially adults that are making the meals.”
Gunna, who was once a student at Ronald McNair Middle, has committed to funding the store forever. He and Crowe also plan to pursue more partnerships to bring similar stores to more schools around the country. An estimated 17 million children experience food insecurity in the US. Solutions like this help ensure that children get the nutrients they need while alleviating the stress of not knowing where their next meal is coming from.
