Petitioning for a Trader Joe’s in Elmont

Utricia Charles has to go all the way to Hewlett or Westbury to find healthy food at a Trader Joe’s supermarket for her grandson with an autoimmune disease, which is why, she said, she supports an online petition to get Trader Joe’s to open an Elmont location.

The petition was started by Simmonie Swaby at the end of March to get an organic, healthy supermarket in the area to counter the many unhealthy, fast-food options in the neighborhood. A simple Google search shows that there are roughly 16 fast-food restaurants in Elmont, but when one searches for organic food establishments in Elmont, the closest one listed is in Franklin Square.

This disparity is endemic in minority communities throughout America, Swaby said. Research has found that African-American neighborhoods tend to have a high concentration of fast-food chains, and the supermarkets in these neighborhoods may carry mainly high-processed foods with large amounts of sugar and sodium, according to Bread for the World — an organization focused on ending hunger in the United States and abroad.

“Minority communities have less access to healthy and organic food, let’s do something about it,” Swaby wrote in her petition on March 21, after previously using the Trader Joe’s website to request an Elmont location.

She chose to focus on getting a Trader Joe’s in the area, she said, because it is affordable, and whenever she goes to the Hewlett site, she sees a diverse customer base. “I just like the atmosphere,” Swaby told the Herald. “It’s almost like a community supermarket.”

And without an organic and healthy supermarket in the area, she said, people are not going to opt to eat organic food. “Sometimes you just grab what is closest to you, rather than what’s best for you,” Charles explained, adding that  they will be “stuck with whatever the local supermarket has.”

The petition had almost 40 signatures by the end of last Friday, and Swaby said that while she knows it will take a lot more for Trader Joe’s executives to take notice of the petition, “at least I know I’m raising awareness.”

“Everyone should feel that they have a responsibility to get to its next steps,” she said, noting that getting an organic supermarket in the area is “the one little thing” she wants to do for her community.