Discounts offered at Delco supermarket

DELAWARE COUNTY

Discounts offered at supermarket

CHESTER As part of a monthlong campaign to raise awareness about hunger and healthy eating, Philabundance's Fare & Square supermarket in Chester is offering shoppers a 25 percent discount on certain produce items.

Throughout September, Fare & Square, located on Ninth Street, is to sample select produce items each day, which will then be discounted 25 percent at checkout. Samples will range from local vegetables, including broccoli and cucumbers, to exotic fruits such as mangoes and quenepas, referred to as the Spanish lime.

The initiative comes as part of a larger effort by Philabundance throughout September for Hunger Awareness Month. The Philadelphia-based hunger-relief organization has mounted a September campaign to raise awareness about hunger and encourage donations. According to Feeding America, a national network of food banks, one in six Americans face hunger.

Fare & Square, the only nonprofit grocery store in the United States, was opened by Philabundance in 2013 after Chester operated as a food desert - lacking access to produce - for more than a decade. In its first year, the supermarket provided food to more than 7,000 households.

Since, the supermarket has surveyed shoppers to determine what food better fits the needs of Chester, one of the region's most economically distressed cities. Fare & Square began offering quenepas, which are to be sampled, after receiving feedback from Chester's Latino community, said Stephanie Arck-Baynes, spokeswoman for Philabundance. - Caitlin McCabe