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A godsend non-profit store offers an oasis in US food desert 
When Mickey Henry wants bread or ice-cream, aspirin or even a cut of meat, 
he rolls up to Jubilee Market, nine blocks away from his house. For the 70-year-old 
retired truck driver, who survives on social security and disability benefits, the store 
has been a godsend. This low-income, predominantly black and Latino 
neighbourhood in north Waco, Texas, has long been known as a “food desert”, with 
only meagre offerings of fresh fruits and vegetables available at convenience stores 
and the Dollar General chain.
That changed five years ago, when the non-profit Mission Waco took over a 
convenience store that had fallen into disrepair, creating Jubilee Market. Today, it 
stocks staples such as crisps and snacks, dry goods and household supplies, but it 
also carries a wide variety of fresh produce, as well as speciality foods favoured by 
its diverse range of customers, everything from oxtail to nopales – an ingredient 
derived from a Mexican cactus – and locally made goods such as honey and soaps.
Before Jubilee opened, the closest supermarket to Henry’s house was the 
Texas chain HEB three miles away. But it was essentially “out of bounds”, he said. 
Henry would struggle to get his wheelchair onto the bus with bags of groceries. 
Henry also finds the groceries more affordable at Jubilee – customers can sign up 
for a rewards card that gives them $1 (76p) back for every $10 they spend. Jubilee 
is one of a handful of small, non-profit grocery stores in America that have sprouted 
in food deserts, defined as low-income areas where most of the population lives more 
than a mile from a grocery store.
But non-profits such as Jubilee have faced a tough couple of years with the 
pandemic, and more recently, rising inflation. The closure of similar community-led 
groceries in other areas of the US shows how hard it can be to create an alternative 
to the big chains. Grocery chains, whose profit margins are already notoriously thin, 
do not usually rush to invest in neighbourhoods such as north Waco. In common 
with cities and towns across the US, Waco’s deepening income inequality has left 
communities struggling to make ends meet. The city’s poverty rate is about double 
the state average. The median household income in the city, just over $40,000 , is 
nearly a third less than the state median.
Mission Waco had no experience of running a grocery store when it decided 
to open Jubilee Market, said the organisation’s executive director, John Calaway ; it 

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was simply reacting to what residents said they needed. The store starts its 
employees, many of whom live in the community, at $10 an hour – higher than 
Texas’s $7.25 minimum wage. Against the odds, Jubilee has so far managed to 
weather a pandemic, supply chain shortages and rising inflation, even if it hasn’t 
been easy. “We’re flying by the seat of our pants,” Calaway said. Jubilee’s best sales 
come at the beginning of the month, when customers’ Snap (supplemental nutrition 
assistance programme) debit cards are topped up, said the store manager, Chaz 
Jackson. Sales taper off after that, and the market relies on higher-income customers 
to keep its revenue up.
On a slow Friday morning in March, Jimmy Dorell, a pastor and the semi-
retired founder of Mission Waco, stops to talk with people coming through Jubilee’s 
doors. Dorrell has earned the trust of the community after years of living in the same 
neighbourhood the non-profit has always served. But these days, Dorrell worries that 
if the market becomes too reliant on wealthier shoppers, the mission of serving those 
already in the community could become more challenging. In the US, a lack of 
access to food is a political choice, said Raj Patel, a food systems researcher at the 
University of Texas at Austin. “Food deserts are not natural. They are human -made, 
and they are, in some cases, very intentional in low - income communities of colour.” 
Solving them needed systemic change, everything from a higher minimum wage or 
better public transit that would make food more accessible. Until then, low-wage 
earners would be at the whim of the markets. He pointed to a 2011 initiative 
spearheaded by the-then first lady, Michelle Obama, who announced a number of 
chains, including Walmart, would participate in a plan to operate stores in food 
deserts. By 2016, with no binding commitment, the chain shut down hundreds of 
stores, sometimes creating new food deserts in its wake. No one can predict how 
long Jubilee will be able to successfully serve the community. When the market 
started, Dorrell said, he didn’t have a five-year plan. But five years on, residents say 
Jubilee has transformed the neighbourhood. “The first time I came here, it’s like 
you’re not familiar with it, but I felt welcome,” said Henry. The area used to look 
and feel dangerous, he added. “All that’s gone. Jubilee cleaned that up. It’s been 
a blessing.” 
Source: Monday 4, April 2022, The Guardian