Kroger Opens Food Pantry In Atlanta High School To Fight Hunger

Grocery store chain Kroger is taking action against students’ food insecurity by helping to open a food pantry at Benjamin E. Mays High School in the southwestern part of Atlanta.

According to WSB-TV, the free resource for students to receive meals outside of the cafeteria officially started Monday, Aug. 28. A crucial addition to the new school year, the student-run food pantry will help students who struggle with food insecurities outside of class.

Kroger’s Zero Hunger-Zero Waste foundation led to the creation of this new outlet for students to obtain food. The first installment is at Benjamin E. Mays High School. The goal, according to Tammie Young-Enaemba, manager of corporate affairs for Kroger’s Atlanta division, is to build ways to ensure students’ main concern—that is, is not how they will eat, but how they will succeed.

“This high school food pantry will help ensure students can focus on their education instead of hunger,” shared Young-Ennaemba.

The unveiling of the food pantry was met with support from the Atlanta community, including Mayor Andre Dickens, who led the ribbon cutting at his alma mater.

“More than half a million residents in metro Atlanta are projected to be food insecure and a rise in food prices has caught many of our neighbors off guard, so it becomes incumbent on us to look out for each other and help each other as best we can. Thank you to Kroger for stepping up and putting in on this group project,” he said.

“Our partnership with Kroger and the City of Atlanta is an example of when schools and community organizations work together, lives are transformed, and everyone can benefit,” said Ramon Garner, Benjamin E. Mays High School’s principal. The pantry, he added, “will fill in the gaps of food insecurity and in turn, help students become more successful in school.”