Making healthy food accessible in Ohio communities

AKRON, Ohio — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wholesome Food Funding Initiative (HFFI) awarded the Paing Loved ones Asian Grocery retailer with grant funding, which will be utilised to maximize access to wholesome foodstuff in the store’s south Akron community. 

Siri Paing claimed she and her relatives are refugees from Myanmar. She mentioned they came to The us in 2013 and took about what is now called the Paing Relatives Asian Grocery in 2019.

The retailer has sold Asian merchandise and groceries for a lot more than 30 yrs. Paing discussed the building alone has not had any updates through that time. 

“The roof is pretty previous it is been here a extensive time—over 30 decades right here,” Paing explained. “In this creating, we only have one particular air conditioner, so we have to have far more. We have to have to update the cooler and freezer, to get extra foodstuff and get much more greens for the shoppers.” 

Right now, Paing mentioned the retail outlet is only ready to receive shipments of new produce at the time a week owing to their lack of freezer and cooler place. 

This is a problem for the persons in her community for the reason that the Paing Loved ones Asian Grocery is the only walkable area in the neighborhood that sells new, affordable meals. 

“Around in this article, (this) is the only put they can get some kind of vegetable, wherever they can stroll and get it listed here,” she mentioned. “Sometimes, the customers arrive on like Monday, and they ask for matters and say, ‘Do you have this?’ and I have to notify them we do not have anymore—it’s bought out.” 

Thanks to the award money from the Wholesome Meals Funding Initiative, Paing will be able to make these essential updates to her shop. 

“It is really tough to get these without having the grant,” she admitted. 

She stated this money will make it less difficult for her to provide a spot for her local community to have entry to nutritious meals.​