High school market gets $15K grant to help curb hunger in Fort Worth food desert
Alisha Odom has shopped for groceries at multiple food banks but finding one that is close, stocked with items she needs and community friendly is hard to find.
It wasn’t until O.D. Wyatt High School,where her son attends, opened a food market last year that she found what she needed. It is opened during the week from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3-5 p.m., and provides perishable and non-perishable foods.
The market is staffed by Wyatt students providing a sense of community that Odom appreciates.
“They’re always friendly, they make you feel like family, it doesn’t make you feel ashamed,” Odom said about the market. “And they pretty much have everything that you really would want to shop for your children.”
Chaparral THRIVE Market opened its doors Monday afternoon to Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Karen Molinar for a tour.
Parker will be presenting to the market, after approval from the city council on Tuesday, a $15,000 grant from the No Kid Hungry Campaign of Share Our Strength, a nonprofit working to solve problems of hunger and poverty in the U.S.. The grant will help expand the market’s services to the entire O.D. Wyatt High School community.
Parker is the chair of the national Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger and said when her office was presented the money they wanted to make sure it stretched further to help families in the community.
“It is meeting the needs of community right where they are and taking away the shame of food insecurity,” Mayor Parker said. “We want to step up in Fort Worth and I’m so thankful for T.H.R. (Texas Health Resources), for Aetna, and Fort Worth ISD for making this possible.”
In a collaboration among Texas Health Resources, Aetna and Fort Worth ISD, the market opened in January 2024 to support families experiencing food insecurity and is named after Wyatt’s mascot — the Chaparral.
The 76119 ZIP code, where O.D. Wyatt is located, has been identified as a food desert, an area disproportionately impacted by limited access to nutritious food and related health challenges, according to a Fort Worth ISD press release.
The market is the fifth of its kind in North Texas that allows students to purchase food at the store through points earned when finishing modules on topics such as anger management, bullying and drug awareness.
Students enrolled in an entrepreneurship class at Wyatt will work as the store employees to build resiliency skills and help them overcome trauma while curbing food insecurity, according to THRIVE, an acronym that stands for Together Harnessing Resources to Give Individuals Voice and Empowerment.
Currently, the Wyatt THRIVE Market serves more than 140 families, distributing approximately 14,000 pounds of food yearly.
Jonathan Rangel, a senior, says ever since he was young his father has pushed him to help people. This market has taught him entrepreneurial skills while allowing him to understand the importance of helping the less fortunate.
“I’ve learned to have connections and to just help out people whenever you can because this is for people that can’t afford food sometimes,” Rangel said. “So I just learn to help whenever you can help out people and always have good connections with you.”
The official grant presentation and vote took place at the Fort Worth City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 20.
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM.
