By Wendell Hutson
Special to the NNPA from the Chicago Crusader
Keisha Abrams, a 43-yearold diabetic, has shopped at a South Side Walgreens for 20 years and now shops there even more since the drugstore chain sells fresh fruits and vegetables. “I spend just about as much time here (at Walgreens) as I do at home.
The employees know me well and I know them and I am thankful to Walgreens for offering fresh fruits and vegetables,” she said, emotionally. “And I thank First Lady Michelle Obama for bringing awareness to this problem that has attached itself to the Black community.”
On Tuesday Abrams joined First Lady Michelle Obama and Mayor Rahm Emanuel at her favorite Walgreens, 11 East 75th Street, to talk about the need to end food deserts.
The Walgreens stop was one of three for the first lady who also visited Iron Street Urban Farm and later attended an evening fundraiser in the West Loop. Earlier Obama attended a mayoral summit at City Hall, which consisted of eight mayors from across the country along with executives from major grocery store chains, such as Jewel, Dominick’s, Save-A-Lot, and Aldi.
As a result of the summit, grocery store executives committed to opening 17 new stores in Chicago over the next few years. They include a new Save-A-Lot store in the North Lawndale community on the West Side by year-end and one in the Grand Boulevard, West Pullman, Morgan Park, Calumet Heights, West Englewood, and Englewood communities on the South Side and one in the Austin community on the West Side, all by spring 2012.
For Obama, the homecoming brought back memories of when she observed people buying groceries at unusual places. “I can remember seeing people buy their groceries at gas stations at ridiculous prices because there were no stores that sold healthy foods,” Obama recalled. “A lot of people don’t have the time or money to travel outside their community to reach stores that do sell fresh produce, fruits and vegetables, so they go to the closest store and buy whatever is there.”
