Within the first month of her new job as a business teacher at PS 198 International Preparatory in Lower West Buffalo, Rachel Kent prepared a personal care drive for her students. A few months later, she helped give away free turkeys to families during Thanksgiving. And by December, Kent had partnered with Colvin Cleaners and National Grid to give free coats, gloves and hats to the high schoolers.
Now this seasoned educator—who continues to look for ways to spread good deeds—is overseeing a student-operated grocery out of her classroom.
“I’m always trying to build up my students in some way,” Kent simply expressed.
A former small business owner with over 17 years of teaching under her belt, Kent put her organizing skills to work when she moved into the Buffalo Public School system three years ago. (She previously taught special education in an out-of-city district.) Spending time at Riverside High School, Buffalo Creek Academy, Bennett High School and currently at International Preparatory at Grover, Kent recognized the disparity in food access for inner city youth and is now doing everything in her will to combat it.
“Lives are different for a lot of our urban learners than our suburban learners,” Kent says. “We need to fill in those gaps in school as much as we can because I feel this is how we get kids in school. By making sure they have what they need.”
Kent partnered with I-Prep students to form the Good Deed Grocery, situated on the basement level of PS 198 in a former administrator’s office. The room holds racks of dry foods, hygiene items and clothes, among many other everyday essentials. With help from FeedMore WNY, the school’s grocery receives around 1,300 to 5,000 pounds of food every week—and so far has given away about eight tons of food to students and families in need.
“Young people need to know…how to take care of themselves,” Kent says. “How to access food where they can get it. Knowing that they can get it on a regular basis if they need it.”
Maintained by fellow teachers and students under Kent’s leadership, the grocery is both a valuable resource for the school and a great example of student action. Taking suggestions and advice from students to pinpoint what foods they need and how they want to support, Good Deed Grocery offers hands-on experience for high schoolers to learn how a business works, and they’ve seen positive results from it.
In addition to receiving continuous support from local organizations including Rich Products, West Side Promise and FeedMore WNY, the grocery was awarded a second-place $500 cash prize in the nationally recognized student leadership challenge, Lead4Change. Most recently, Good Deed Grocery was one of the select few nonprofits chosen to work directly with Dell Technologies to develop a client-facing food pantry ordering system, with the ultimate goal to break the stigma of food pantry patronage.
Good Deed Grocery has already made a significant impact on the school and the surrounding community. With its own website (where you can find the GoFundMe link to donate), an online ordering system and a conversion chart in place to properly serve every student and their family, the school grocery continues to reach new heights, and Kent is proud to lead the charge.
“We’re really, really growing,” she says. “I’m trying to make the Good Deed Grocery a place that supports the whole school.”
