- The winter storm caused power outages and hazardous road conditions.
- These conditions impacted local grocery stores and neighbors' ability to get to them.
- Watch the video to learn how snowfall led to limited access to food.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
While the winter storm made for some fun in the sleet and snow, frosty conditions made access to food much harder thanks to power outages and hazardous roads.
I'm Kenya Cardonne, your Southeast Tallahassee neighborhood reporter, looking into the temporary food insecurity brought on by the winter storm.
Neighbors are out and about in stores again after a winter storm snowed them in.
One neighbor said: "It was hard. It was hard to do certain things, go certain places. For instance, stores around here closed early."
Although most can appreciate the rare snow experience, one thing lots of neighbors weren't expecting was for power to go out. It made finding food a challenge.
Food Giant, the only local supermarket in Woodville, was powerless for hours and closed for a full day.
"Well, it hurt a lot of people around here," said Food Giant employee Caron Trice Brown.
Power outages made food at home go bad. Dangerously icy roads made it hard to drive out of the neighborhood. Neighbors just needed something to put on the table.
"Milk, bread, staple items. But, I mean, we weren't open, so we couldn't do it," said Greg Schofield, the assistant manager at Food Giant.
Despite the power outage, Food Giant was able to preserve its produce and meat.
Access to food was so limited, Brown says, "when we did open back up, we were swamped."
"Matter of fact, I opened the store Thursday morning, got here at 6:45, had it open by 7:00, and from 7:00 'til close at 8:00, we were busy," said Schofield.
In Tallahassee, Community Co-Op Market Employee Megan McGuyre said it was "very chaotic."
Neighbors collectively spent $3,300 on produce alone at the Community Co-Op Market on Friday.
The store didn't lost power, but weather conditions made it hard for both customers and employees to even just get to the local market.
"At one point, a meat cooler went out and people weren't able to catch it until a day later," said McGuyre. "That was due to the lack of coworkers."
"Now this here, compared to the tornadoes, was a little different," said neighbor Smitty Stephens.
The last time I spoke to the folks at these two grocery stores, the May 10th tornadoes, had done a number on them and their neighborhoods.
More than eight months later, they say they have confidence that with the power of community, they can get through anything Mother Nature brings their way.
"A situation like a snow day, you have to really deplete your resources," said McGuyre. "And if anything, it's really affirming and kind of delighting to see that people want to come to us to restock and revamp their supplies."
Community Co-Op says their deadline to meet sufficient sales numbers has continuously been pushed further away thanks to the community's support in shopping locally.
In Southeast Tallahassee, Kenya Cardonne ABC 27
