All Good News

High School Opens Grocery Store For Students, Accepts Goods Deeds As Payment

November 23, 2020

A high school in Texas has opened a grocery store for students, staff and their families.

But it doesn't accept money; just good deeds.

The grocery store at Linda Tutt High School

The grocery store at Linda Tutt High School in Sanger, Texas, is entirely student-run.

With the help of local partners like Texas Health, Albertsons and First Refuge Ministries, the school was able to complete the grocery store in an extra room.

It operates on a point system, where students can earn points for positive office referrals, cleaning around the school building and other good deeds.

"A lot of our students, they come from low socioeconomic families," said principal Anthony Love. "It's a way for students to earn the ability to shop for their families. Through hard work you can earn points for positive office referrals. You can earn points for doing chores around the building or helping to clean."

The store, which aims to address food insecurities for students and others in the community during the ongoing pandemic, is open Monday through Wednesday for students and staff within the school district.

Students entirely run the store, doing everything from keeping shelves stocked, to keeping tracking of inventory to managing the point system.

"I think the most exciting part of it is just teaching our kids job skills that they can carry with them as they graduate high school and move on into the world," Love added. "Students are really the key piece to it."