OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KGTV) – A new market has opened up for those who are unhoused and down on their luck in Oceanside.
“I've been unhoused for about four years or so,” Joey Boyd, who works at Brother Benno’s and is just two weeks from being in his own housing, said. “Being unhoused, I totally understand, like, where our guests, like, where they're coming from. I get it, you know, I've been there myself.”
On Wednesday, Boyd and others came to Brother Benno’s, a homeless nonprofit in Oceanside, to cut the ribbon on a new way of helping those who need help. It created a grocery store-style market for the unhoused and those struggling financially.
“We thought an indoor market would be better than having, say, a food bank,” Paul McNamara, the Executive Director of Brother Benno’s, said. “The reason why that’s important is because the food pantry, you know, you might get a bag of something, right, and it may not be what you necessarily need.”
The new 1,400-square-foot market is indoors at Brother Benno’s on Production Avenue in Oceanside. It is stocked with items such as fresh produce, eggs, meat, dairy, herbs and bread. The items are donated every morning by Albertson’s, Chick-fil-A, Trader Joe’s, Vons, Walmart, Target, Food for Less and Coca-Cola.
McNamara told ABC 10News that it’s especially important to be able to pick your groceries to ensure you can use them.
“This way you come in with your shopping cart and you get to choose what you need, and especially if you're homeless, what you can preserve, right?” McNamara said. “I mean, you might not want to take a gallon of milk because you can't drink it all, and then the rest of it goes to waste, right? Or you might not get dried beans, you may not have a place to prepare them.”
McNamara said they did have a soft opening for the free market to get operations running smoothly before the ribbon-cutting.
"One of our mantras is uplifting the dignity of those we serve,” McNamara said.
"I think this grocery store does for them is it gives them the dignity back to feel like a normal human being,” Boyd said.
It’s going to be open from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. Monday to Friday, and 8 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays.
