Alex Imbot and Eli Moraru, founders of The Community Grocer, are joining forces with Resident Action Committee II, a Grays Ferry organization, to provide SNAP recipients with healthy cooked meals, writes Katie Gilbert for The Philadelphia Citizen.

The University of Pennsylvania alums are working with RAC2 leader, Charles Reeves, Jr., on a new type of corner store in Cobbs Creek. There, SNAP recipients have the option of buying pre-chopped, pre-portioned, and pre-marinated fresh ingredients to exchange for a hot meal at the adjacent nonprofit-run kitchen.

The goal is to provide SNAP users with healthy meals while not breaking the no-hot-food rule for food stamps. According to founders Imbot and Moraru, The Community Grocer aligns with the goal of the legislation behind SNAP.

“The plain-sense language of the policy is about supporting the consumption of fresh ingredients,” said Imbot.

Providing fresh ingredients is not enough, as they often go bad as people do not have time to cook them or do not have the additional equipment and ingredients required.

“It’s complex, and there are systems behind this that are about so much more than food,” said Imbot. “It comes down to economic justice and housing justice and racial justice.”

Read more about the Community Grocer and its mission to provide healthy food options for SNAP recipients in The Philadelphia Citizen.

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