Located on Salem Ave. on the west side of Dayton, the Gem City Marketplace is an “up and coming” grocery store created to help alleviate the food desert affecting many Dayton residents who live in the area.
After the Kroger in Westwood closed down, people in the area no longer had easy access to fresh produce or good quality groceries. The Market Place will be more than just grocery stuff, but hopefully, have a small clinic as well. Gem City Market hopes to help those affected by this, and an upcoming fundraiser, on March 30, will help to do that.
The fundraiser, partnered with Chipotle on Brown Street, will donate 33 percent of proceeds to the marketplace. Students simply have to show one of the fundraiser players at checkout on March 30 from 4-8 p.m at the Brown St. Chipotle, in order to have a percentage of their purchase donated to the market.
Participants can show the flyer on their phone (take a picture of the flyer in this article even!) or a physical copy of the flyer which can be found throughout campus, or one that is handed out at the event.
“I think it’s going to be good for our city.” Said Takiyah Blacock, who is involved in the fundraiser as part of a class project, speaking about the fundraiser’s goal.
“It’s actually affecting our school,” Jeff Duvic, also involved with the fundraiser. Talking about how some Sinclair students could be affected by the food desert:
“Being a commuter school not having access to fresh food is going to affect how they [students] do in school, their motivation, things of that nature… you’re not just helping the citizens of the west side of Dayton, but you could be helping someone sitting next to you in class.”
For those who are interested in helping the Marketplace beyond the fundraiser, from volunteering, sponsoring, donating or promoting the business, can get in contact with Sinclair professor Amaha Sellassie.
(Send us a picture of you and/or your fundraiser Chipotle on March 30, and we’ll feature you on our Clarion Instagram! Here is our Insta @theclarion. Hope to see you there!)
Cerridwyn Kuykendall
Managing Editor