ORLANDO, Fla. – Workers at the UP Orlando grocery store were all smiles Wednesday.
The store, part of the Member Share Grocery Program, is located on West Michigan Street and helps hundreds of families with food insecurities by offering items of up to 70% off compared to a traditional store.
However, the store went through a huge challenge over the last year after Hurricane Ian in 2022, which damaged most of its freezers and coolers, limiting products for shoppers.
“This warehouse is very, very old, and it had challenges on the electrical wiring to trying to get it to a capacity to be able to function,” said Anjali Vaya with United Against Poverty Orlando.
Thanks to local organizations and UAP partners, nearly $1 million was raised to help buy new freezers, refrigerators and coolers for UP Orlando’s Member Marketplace, replacing units that were damaged by Hurricane Ian.
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“This is a wonderful opportunity to educate because, yeah, it’s that family that is in between that border financially but they don’t know how to make decisions (such as) are we going to buy meat this week or are we not?” Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe said.
The brand new freezers and coolers mean shoppers can now buy chicken, meats and dairy products at a low cost.
“What we’ve done collectively as a county and as a city to make sure we gave them those fundings and their own partnership funding to make this a reality,” Uribe said.
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