SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School in San Francisco unveiled its new, on campus grocery store on Monday that will help hundreds of students and their families stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat and pantry goods.

About 100 students, teachers and community leaders gathered in the school’s library to celebrate the opening of Goodr’s first free grocery store on the West Coast. Goodr is an Atlanta-based startup that aims to reduce hunger and food waste.

YMCA of San Francisco, San Francisco Unified School District and city’s Department of Children, Youth and their Families partnered with Goodr and Amazon to set up the in-school grocery store. It’s the fourth free grocery store in the nation that Goodr and Amazon have created as a team.

It’s available to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School students and their families. The school is located in the Portola neighborhood next to the Bayview Hunters Point District of San Francisco.

The YMCA of Bayview Hunters Point serves many students from the school through its Beacon program, which provides academic development and afterschool resources to MLK Jr. students.

The region of Bayview Hunters Point is considered a “food desert,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food deserts are low-income areas with limited access to nutritious food.

“All 400 students here at MLK will have access to this amazing grocery store,” said Maria Su, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and their Families. “That means 400 families in this amazing community will have access to fresh produce and shelf-stable food. It’s one more thing off their mind.”

While students are already provided with free breakfast and lunch through the school, school staff and leaders of Goodr said it’s not sufficient to offset hunger when they leave for the day.

“It’s not enough that we give our kids free breakfast and lunch at school if they go home and don’t eat dinner,” said Goodr CEO Jasmine Crowe. “They wake up the next morning, come into class and that breakfast replaces the dinner that they didn’t get the night before and then lunch replaces breakfast. When that occurs, you have students that are sitting in class wondering where their next meal is coming from.”

Erin Wheeler, a teaching assistant who helps coach instructors at the school, said that some students talk a lot about being hungry.

The school’s free breakfast and lunch programs only “support students in the moment,” she said.

“But in terms of our families having access, this is a huge step.”

Gabriella Hernandez, the mother of a student at the school, exited the store with three bags of groceries and a smile on her face.

“I feel very happy and grateful for this free grocery store,” she said.

Students and their families will each be able to access the store twice a month as a resource to help put food on the table. In addition to groceries, the shelves are also stocked with toiletries, feminine products and household items such as toilet paper, laundry detergent, dish soap and trash bags.

“It doesn’t matter how great of a teacher you are,” Crowe said. “No teacher can ever teach through hunger.”

Copyright © 2024 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — In San Francisco’s Portola neighborhood, a free grocery store is making sure students don’t go hungry anymore.

“Once we identify those families who are interested in accessing this resource they will be on a schedule. They will know when to come in it will be before school and after school,” said Tyson Fechter, Principal at MLK Jr. Middle School.

Based on their income, more than 70% of families at MLK Jr. Middle School qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school believes over 300 families could benefit from the supermarket.

MORE: Food access gets worse in this Bay Area county as inflation hits 40-year high

“I’m currently not working and truly this is a huge help for my family,” said parent Jessica Matos.

In a community where 39% of residents are low-income and living well below the poverty line, the school’s internal surveys pinpointed food insecurity as one of the biggest setbacks for students’ learning.

“The students that might leave class and are out in the hallways a lot of the times, they are looking for food. They bounce around from class to class. Mrs. Monterosa, ‘Do you have any milk? Do you have any cereal?’ They are looking for food and while they are doing that, they are missing out on class time,” said Fechter.

“A lot of our Bayview families are traditionally underserved in a lot of ways and are dealing with the shifting economics in the city,” said Jibraan Lee, Beacon Director YMCA of Greater SF.

MORE: ‘Food deserts’: Nearly 900 neighborhoods across Bay Area have limited access to food

The school’s supermarket is the result of a partnership with the SFUSD, Amazon, and the nonprofit Goodr that has launched 12 other free grocery stores throughout the country.

“Over the next year, I hope that you have one less worry because you are going to know where you can go and get access to food and it is free, and it’s here to serve your family,” said Jasmine Crowe-Houston, founder and CEO of Goodr.

Although this is the first free supermarket inside a school in California for this group, it may not be the last.

Luz Pena: “There is a possibility that other schools in the city could have something like this?”

“We would love that to be true. We would have to see what happens next,” said Sally Kay with Amazon Public Policy & External Affairs and added, “We are always evaluating our partners needs and hope to see what we can do together in the future.”

MORE: CA housing affordability crisis has been decades in the making – what got us here?

A group of parents left MLK Jr. Middle School feeling grateful with grocery bags filled with frozen food, fruits, vegetables and cleaning supplies.

“I never thought that this was something I could get at my son’s school. This is a huge help for me and for other families,” said parent Gabriela Hernandez.

On July 30th, the San Francisco Giants sent Alex Cobb to the Cleveland Guardians for starting pitcher Jacob Bresnahan and a player to be named later. On Monday, it was announced who the final piece of the deal would be: an infielder, Nate Furman, according to FanSided’s Robert Murray.

Furman, a utility infielder, was drafted in the fourth round of the 2022 MLB draft out of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In his two minor league seasons, he has made it as high as Double-A, which he did this season.

However, the 23-year-old is currently on the 60-day injured list due to a shoulder injury.

In his first year of professional baseball in 2023, Furman played 108 games in which he had an OPS of .703 with 11 doubles and 32 RBIs. He did not hit any home runs, but he did steal 37 bases.

His power improved in 2024. In 37 games at High-A, Furman hit seven home runs, two doubles and a triple while slashing .338/.417/.500 with a .917 OPS before being promoted to Double-A.

Following his promotion, the infielder struggled before hitting the injured list on June 29. In 13 Double-A games, he slashed .125/.300/.200 with two extra base hits.

Furman provides a solid contact tool with some speed, as well as a good eye at the plate. So far in his career, he has walked 91 times to his 93 strikeouts, so he will always give a good at-bat. While he may not provide much power, he could be a good top of the order, infield depth piece.

Despite him being hurt right now, this looks like a nice addition to the Giants system. When he comes back and can be healthy, he will likely move up the ranks pretty quickly.

The other player in this deal, Jacob Bresnahan, has pitched five games at Single-A since the trade and has struggled. In 12.2 innings, he has allowed 20 earned runs while posting a 10.7 K/9, but a 7.8 BB/9.

On the other hand, Alex Cobb has come back from the injured list to pitch in two games for the Guardians, allowing five earned runs in 10.1 innings, but only four strikeouts to three walks.

With Robbie Ray set to get an MRI, the Giants could use the depth of Alex Cobb in the big leagues. Instead, they opted to bolster the farm system and finalized that on Monday. Furman may never be a star or even everyday player, but he could be a very useful bench piece.