New neighborhood market in West Philadelphia run by teens from YEAH Philly helping feed hungry residents with free groceriesA newly-opened neighborhood market offers free groceries three times a week, but its biggest value is the lesson it's teaching the young people staffing it.Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, teens like Kiarah Cropper-Stukes are feeding residents of West Philadelphia on the 5200 block of Walton Avenue.
During the pandemic, the teens handed out food along street corners. But once the nonprofit found a permanent location, they transformed an abandoned garage into the market."Its important because we're definitely in a food desert. There's a lot of people who shop at corner stores, priced really high, but also we get to provide permanent jobs to young people," said Van de Water.
"Last week for the first time, I did inventory stock," said Kiarah. "I had to write numbers down of how much stuff we had here, and how to divide that up, and give that out and stuff like that." The market is helping teens learn life lessons, while changing the narrative of their community through service and action.