This market + kitchen helps solve the direct problem with SNAP Benefits

In Philadelphia County alone, nearly 460,000 people rely on SNAP benefits. But with the average monthly benefit dropping from $274 in 2022 to just $181 in 2023, families are struggling more than ever to make healthy choices. It’s not that people don’t want fresh food—it’s that cooking from scratch isn’t always an option. Many households lack full kitchens, cooking skills, or even the time to prepare meals after long workdays. Many people become homeless, but still have SNAP benefits so how are they supposed to eat nutritious meals without a kitchen?

And even though SNAP helps millions of families, there's one frustrating rule that still stands today: SNAP benefits can't be used to buy hot, prepared meals.

That’s where The Community Grocer (TCG) comes in. Reeves, alongside Penn grads Alex Imbot and Eli Moraru, is launching a new kind of corner store in Cobbs Creek that takes a different approach. SNAP recipients will be able to purchase meal kits made of fresh, pre-portioned ingredients—or, if they don’t have the time or tools to cook, they can swap their kit for a hot meal prepared in a nonprofit-run kitchen next door. The kitchen will double as a culinary training center, providing job opportunities in the community. Plus, the founders are using creative funding sources—like agricultural subsidies and fresh food financing—to keep costs low and make the project sustainable.

I’ve seen this in my own volunteering with community fridges and food equity initiatives. Access to fresh food isn’t just about nutrition—it’s about dignity, opportunity, and choice.

For families using SNAP, this could mean access to fresh, healthy food that actually works for their needs. For communities, it could be a step toward food justice and economic empowerment. And for the rest of us, it’s a reminder that sometimes, big change starts with a simple meal.

One of my goals since being exposed to such issues and learning what is being done and what the barriers are is to have a fridge with already made healthy foods and salads that the unhoused community can just grab and eat.