NEW ORLEANS -- Wendell Pierce, an actor who portrays a trombone player in New Orleans who's among the residents picking up the pieces after Hurricane Katrina on HBO's television series Treme, is also working to improve the quality of life for the residents of his hometown by opening a chain of convenience stores this summer in low-income neighborhoods where grocery stores are scarce.
For Pierce, Katrina has led to a second crisis--food deserts, where people have no real access to quality groceries. That, Pierce believed, needs to change. No one else was helping, so he decided to pitch in, according to a report by CBS News.
The c-stores, called Sterling Express, are designed to deliver fresh, affordable and accessible food to a city where 58% of the residents don't drive.
Pierce and two business partners opened the first Sterling Express in December, a New York Times report said. This summer, they plan to open a grocery store called Sterling Farms, the first of several in New Orleans’s low-income neighborhoods, where supermarkets are scarce.
"Bringing fresh food into these areas helps create economic growth," Pierce told the Times. "But it also helps people understand that there’s value in eating better. It's not something that's only available in a better neighborhood."
The first full-service grocery store will open in a former Winn-Dixie in Marrero, La., a suburb across the Mississippi where 26% of households have an income of less than $25,000 annually, and 55% earn less than $50,000.
Sterling Farms will look like most other conventional grocers, with a deli, bakery, seafood counter and as many as 40,000 items. But it also will cater to the special needs of low-income shoppers. The store will offer a free shuttle to anyone who spends $50 or more, so they need not walk or take the bus with heavy bags. Each month, the store plans a cookout to raise money for the community.
Click here to find out more about Pierce.
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