Goodr Founder and CEO Jasmine Crowe-Houston, left, helps pick out items from the freezer for Atlanta Public Schools parent Leandre Bigby, right, at the Goodr store opening at the APS Student and Family Support Hub on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (Meimei Xu/WABE)
This story was updated on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, at 5:14 p.m.
Atlanta Public Schools students and families can now find free groceries at a Goodr store in the APS Student and Family Support Hub in Southwest Atlanta.
The grocery store saw its first few shoppers at an unveiling event Wednesday. Hunger relief company Goodr, in partnership with the City of Atlanta’s ATL Year of the Youth initiative, the Atlanta Football Host Committee and College Football Playoff Foundation, created the grocery store to support families in the school district living with food insecurity.
Up to 200 families a month will be able to shop at the store, which will be open four hours a day on weekdays, according to Goodr Founder and CEO Jasmine Crowe-Houston, and all APS families and students can access the store.
Each family can choose a few items from the shelves such as cereal, canned goods, snacks, frozen items, breads and household supplies, and shoppers can take home as much produce as they want. Goodr sources items from local grocers, food manufacturers and farmers, and it will restock the store every week.
The new Goodr store in the Atlanta Public Schools Student and Family Support Hub stocks frozen items, dry goods and produce. (Meimei Xu/WABE)
At Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting event, Crowe-Houston said she wanted families to be able to choose the foods they want and “shop with dignity.”
She added that access to food is crucial in making sure students focus in school.
“I don’t care how great of a teacher you are — and there are amazing teachers — you can’t teach through hunger,” she said. “If you have a student that is sitting in class wondering when and where their next meal is coming from, you’ll never be able to teach through that.”
Crowe-Houston was joined at the podium by APS Superintendent Bryan Johnson, APS Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Chelsea Montgomery, College Football Playoff Foundation Executive Director Britton Banowsky, Atlanta Sports Council President Dan Corso, Chief Policy Advisor and Senior Advisor to the Mayor Courtney English and APS Board of Education Chair Erika Mitchell.
Representatives from the City of Atlanta, the Atlanta Public Schools, Goodr, College Football Playoff Foundation and the Atlanta Football Host Committee cut the ribbon at the opening of a new Goodr location in the APS Hub. (Meimei Xu/WABE)
During a tour of the space, Crowe-Houston helped APS parent Leandre Bigby pick out two bags of items at the store. Bigby, who is also an advocate with education equity nonprofit Atlanta Thrive, said she’s thankful for the new store, especially after a Walmart location near her closed down.
“This is a blessing to have, and I’m grateful that I was able to come and get it, because I don’t receive food stamps,” she said.
Leandre Bigby, left, was one of the first shoppers at the new Goodr store in the APS Student and Family Support Hub. Goodr Founder and CEO Jasmine Crowe-Houston, right, helps her pick out items from the freezer. (Meimei Xu/WABE)
Bigby added that the SNAP program and other food assistance programs should expand the pool of people who are eligible, since the cost of living is increasing. Meanwhile, services like the Goodr store make a big difference for kids and their families.
“They understand that when they come home, they have a meal,” Bigby said. “They don’t have to try to stuff their face at school.”
Johnson, the APS superintendent, said during the event that disparities in student performance often stem from a lack of basic resources outside the school.
“It’s what so many of our kids go back to and the deficits and things that they don’t have that they bring back into the academic environment, and we’re almost starting from scratch all over again trying to close the gaps,” he said.
Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Bryan Johnson speaks at the opening of the Goodr store in the APS Student and Family Support Hub on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. (Meimei Xu/WABE)
He added during an interview after the event that the school system hopes to pursue future partnerships to provide services for students.
“We believe this will be a springboard, so to speak, as we look at more and more opportunities to meet those most fundamental needs,” he said.
Next to the Goodr store, the APS Student and Family Support Hub is also preparing to open a department store with clothes and shoes for students.
Montgomery, the APS assistant superintendent of student services, emphasized that both the grocery store and the upcoming department store will only be stocking new items.
“No, we are not taking gently used items at this time,” Montgomery said during Wednesday’s event. “I firmly believe that we are Atlanta and we can rise up and support our kids with new items. A dignified department store, a dignified grocery store. We are not a clothing closet and we are not a food pantry. Our families, our children and our future deserve nothing but the best.”
Crowe-Houston, the founder and CEO of Goodr, said the company is also planning to open a grocery store on the campus of an HBCU in Georgia in 2025. She said Goodr is “leaning toward” Savannah State University, but the location is not yet final.
Another Goodr grocery store will open near Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood to provide food to seniors.
The Goodr free grocery store is located at the APS Student and Family Support Hub at 601 Dr. Thomas Cole Jr. Way.
The Atlanta Public Schools Student and Family Support Hub now houses a Goodr grocery store to provide free food to families in the district. (Meimei Xu/WABE)
