Southeast Raleigh Community Grocery Breaks Ground on October 24: Co-op Fundraising Past Halfway Ends 13 Years Without a Supermarket
On October 24, residents of Southeast Raleigh, in Wake County, North Carolina, reached a moment thirteen years in the making: the community-owned Fertile Ground Food Cooperative held a groundbreaking ceremony at the JD Lewis Center for its new grocery store, bringing the first resident-owned full-service grocery to a neighborhood that has had none since 2013. The project grew out of neighbors organizing after two Kroger stores closed, starting as an idea for a café and growing into a cooperative owned by more than a thousand member-owners, where residents are both customers and owners with a vote in the store's future. The co-op has raised more than $5 million toward an $11 million goal; according to Wake County government, the county previously allocated $1 million to support the store. Organizers say they have deliberately paced the fundraising and limited borrowing so the store can turn profitable sooner and stay for the long term. Beyond groceries, the new store plans a community garden and gathering space and will prioritize buying from Black farmers and local suppliers to keep more money in the neighborhood. With about 145,000 Wake County residents facing food insecurity, the project's meaning goes beyond one store: it is a community taking economic initiative back into its own hands.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：罗利市中心。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons（自由授权）。 / Photo: Downtown Raleigh, via Wikimedia Commons (free license).
