This supermarket set up inside of a North Texas high school has a unique way to pay. Rather than purchasing products with cash or credit cards, the accepted form of currency for this grocery store is none other than good deeds.
Texas Health, Albertsons, and First Refuge Ministries set up the store to help students and their families. Although one benefit of the grocery store is reducing food insecurity, it also teaches participating students valuable lessons about math, supply management, customer service, and work ethic.
"A lot of our students come from low socioeconomic families," said Anthony Love, the school principal. "It's a way for students to earn the ability to shop for their families. Through hard work, you can earn points for positive office referrals. You can earn points for doing chores around the building or helping to clean."
"We all had our first jobs and it taught us how to work, and what you got for your work," said the town's mayor, Thomas Muir. "II think this will do that for them too, and [also] meet an immediate need."
The store's student manager, Hunter Weertman, already says that working there has helped him to learn important life skills, like budgeting based on your current finances.
The good deed grocery store will hopefully serve as a pilot program for other small communities facing food insecurity.