[[link removed]]

PORTSIDE CULTURE

PROMOTING WELL-BEING WITH HEALTHY COMMUNITY STORES  
[[link removed]]


 

Susan Kelley
March 18, 2026
Cornell Chronicle
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Since 2018, the Healthy Community Store Initiative (HCSI) has
encouraged the owners of local stores to stock healthy options in
Buffalo’s food deserts, while educating customers on the benefits of
eating healthful foods, checking one’s blood pressur _

A cooler at Buffalo’s Golden Corner store stocks fresh fruits and
vegetables. The store participates in CCE Erie’s Healthy Community
Store Initiative, Jason Koski/Cornell University

 

Jasmine Robbs recently drove across Buffalo during her lunch break
just to shop at her favorite store – Buffalo’s Golden Corner on
the East Side – because it sells fresh fruit, vegetables and other
healthy options.

At the store’s entrance, two coolers stock spinach, lemons, avocado,
carrots, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, yogurt, eggs, dairy products,
almond milk and stacks of to-go boxes packed with brilliant
raspberries, grapes, pineapple and strawberries.

“Every time I spend my food stamps, I am able to cash out on fresh
fruits and vegetables, which is imperative,” said Robbs, who says
she doesn’t shop anywhere else. “That is my go-to.”

Buffalo’s Golden Corner is one of 16 stores participating in Cornell
Cooperative Extension (CCE) Erie County’s Healthy Community Store
Initiative (HCSI). Since 2018, the program has encouraged the owners
of local stores to stock healthy options in Buffalo’s food deserts,
while educating customers on the benefits of eating healthful foods,
checking one’s blood pressure and more.

“It’s a multilevel approach to a healthy community,” said Sheila
Bass, HCSI program manager who had previously managed CCE nutrition
programs for 16 years. “There are a lot of boxes that we are
checking: providing fresh produce at local corner stores, healthier
options, an educational component and making sure people have those
tools and resources to practice those healthier behaviors at home.”

Bass and Moet Grooms, a CCE educator, recently set up a table at
Buffalo’s Golden Corner to celebrate Heart Health Month. They
greeted Robbs and other customers, encouraged them to enter raffles
for a crock pot and a mini cooker, offered free slow-cooker cookbooks
and gave out $25 Visa gift cards to the first 20 people who checked
their blood pressure at the store’s health station, part of an
innovative national pilot program. The CCE team also leads cooking
demos, promotions and nutrition education throughout the year at
participating stores as well as community centers and schools.

“We’re not only supplying them with the kitchen gadgets to make
healthy recipes, but also giving them the information so that they eat
healthier, as well as giving them a place to access the food. So
you’re coming in one place and you’re getting a whole package,”
Grooms said.

 

The need for this work is significant, Bass said. Buffalo’s East
Side accounts for 73% of the clinic patients of the Erie County
Department of Health. In a 2021-22 survey of 252 East Side households
conducted by the University at Buffalo, more than 40% of East Side
residents surveyed reported food insecurity.

 

Of those, nearly 60% had incomes lower than $25,000, and 48% did not
own or have access to a vehicle. Perhaps most important, 21% of the
food-insecure residents said they rely on corner stores as shopping
destinations.

“In these neighborhoods, there aren’t a lot of resources that
connect them with how to better manage their health,” Grooms said.
“So we come in with big, friendly smiles and talk with them, making
sure we connect with them.”

A commitment to community

While Grooms and Bass talked with customers, store owner Rocky Mohamed
pivoted from making hot sandwiches and subs to cashing out customers.
He had set up a basket of Red Delicious apples near the cash register.

“We have the snacks and all the junk food, but to see that option
there, people are like, ‘Hey, listen, that’s a nice, vivid bright
apple,’” he said. “The pricing is there too. We’re not
gouging. Instead of a bag of chips, it’s a healthier option.”

His family has owned and run the store for 27 years, and he grew up in
the neighborhood. He was raised on fruits and vegetables, avoided
ultraprocessed foods and now feeds his own family the same way. So
when CCE approached him to become a Healthy Community Store nine years
ago, he didn’t hesitate.

“It is a food desert out there,” he said. The area’s other
corner stores don’t sell fruits, vegetables and healthier snacks and
groceries. And the closest grocery store is 1.5 miles away, he said.

The Golden Corner is one of two Healthy Community Stores that sells
neither alcohol nor tobacco. Mohamed has seen neighborhood kids grow
up and have children of their own, so it is important to him to offer
healthier choices to his community. “It’s needed in this area,”
he said.

Bass encouraged store owners to offer five categories of healthier
options: beverages like juice and water as an alternative to soda or
beer; healthy snacks; whole grains; packaged produce; and fresh fruits
and vegetables.

For Heart Health Month, Bass encouraged store owners to offer red
produce, like red peppers, red potatoes and strawberries. In the fall,
she collaborated with other CCE Erie programs promoting local fall
fruits, and worked with store owners to offer a buy-one, get-one-free
promotion of grapes. Bass regularly checks in with store owners and to
ask how the initiative is going and how she can help.

“They’re supporting their community, and it’s just amazing how
passionate they are about the project,” Bass said.

Blood pressure education

The CCE team runs the initiative with the support of 30 partners, from
government agencies to nonprofits including three major funders: the
American College of Cardiology, the Buffalo Bills Foundation and John
R. Oishei.

Partners also include local 4-H clubs, the nonprofit Say Yes Buffalo,
other youth programs and healthy food community advocates – trained
volunteers who promote healthy food choices at participating stores.

Bass and her team also collaborated with the American College of
Cardiology to pilot the Caring Hearts initiative, a national program
that installed free health stations where people can check their blood
pressure and get information about what high blood pressure means and
how to prevent it.

The program now targets specific ZIP codes in cities with persistent
gaps in health outcomes and life expectancy resulting, in part, from
higher rates of cardiovascular risk factors – particularly high
blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.

Buffalo’s Golden Corner is one of four Health Community Stores that
have installed the health stations; a community center is also
participating.

At the Heart Health Month event, Bass helped Racquel Wells, who lives
down the street from the Golden Corner, use the station and interpret
her blood pressure reading. She was the first customer to check her
blood pressure – for only the second time in her life.

Wells came in not only for the $25 gift card but also to learn how to
eat in a more healthful way. “Sometimes I snack on junk food while
I’m at work,” Wells said. “I think the healthier you eat, the
longer you live. If you eat the right foods for your body, it helps
you to function properly.”

 

 

 

 

* food desert
[[link removed]]
* grocery stores; shopping habits; supermarket
[[link removed]]
* healthy eating; nutrition
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit portside.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 



########################################################################

[link removed]

To unsubscribe from the xxxxxx list, click the following link:
[link removed]