From left, Teresa Valentine and Barbara Gary shop at a food giveaway hosted by Carla McClure at Carver Jones Market in Fairfield. (Courtesy of Amah Crosskey, The Birmingham Times)
Sym Posey | The Birmingham Times
Charles and Maryland Boltz were among dozens of residents who lined up Tuesday morning to receive $55 worth of free groceries from Carver Jones Market, a recently opened Black-owned store in Fairfield.
“It's nice to have a grocery store so close to home,” said Charles Boltz, who has lived in the Bellwood neighborhood for nearly 42 years. “When we first moved to Fairfield, there were a lot of good things here. Over the years, it's declined… it's good to see it's on the up and thriving.”
After the city's Walmart closed, the couple began shopping in nearby communities such as McCalla and Hueytown, leaving the city of about 10,000 people without a local grocery store.
Carver Jones Markets President and CEO James Harris. (Courtesy of Ammar Closkey, The Birmingham Times)
But now, Carver Jones President and CEO James Harris is giving Fairfield residents a place to do their grocery shopping: Carver Jones Market, named for two Black inventors, George Washington Carver and Frederick McKinley Jones.
Customers can find everything they'd expect from other national chains at the market, as well as affordable private label options. “It's taken me and my team seven years to (open) what we thought would work in an environment like Fairfield that needs a small grocery store,” Harris said. “There were no grocery stores at all, and we were invited to come here and get started. It's a passion to see things change and try to change that.”
The Voltzes, along with the first 55 seniors and single parents, received $55 worth of free groceries thanks to the ReVote Community Voter Project organized by Faith and Works founder Carla McClure, who was celebrating her 55th birthday and 10 years of activism through community service.
“It's a big thing. We serve a variety of needs. People always ask us how we keep our community safe. Feeding people keeps our community safe and reduces crime,” McClure said. “We want to end hunger in our community. We also want to support Black-owned businesses while promoting fresh fruits and vegetables. Fairfield used to be a food desert and now we have a grocery store, but we need people to know about it,” she said.
From left, Charles Boltz, Carla McClure, founder of Faith and Works who was celebrating her 55th birthday, and Maryland Boltz at Carver Jones Market in Fairfield. (Courtesy of Amar Closkey, The Birmingham Times)
Founded in 2019 and launched in 2020, Faith and Works works as a social justice and civic engagement organization.
McClure said she knows firsthand how difficult it is to be a single mother and wanted to do something to help her community. “I wanted to find a way to support a Black-owned grocery store while giving back to the community I love. I'm a single mother and I'm soon to be a senior citizen,” she said.
“I'm also celebrating 10 years of activism,” she added. “In December 2014, Black Lives Matter broke out. That's when I started activism and I'm one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter Birmingham. After years of the BLM movement, I realized that there was something missing in every meeting and every organization, and that was either power or prayer. For me, there was a gap between church and my career as an activist, and that's where faith and work came from.”
Carver Jones is located at 4800 Gary Avenue in Fairfield, Alabama.
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