Group of local entrepreneurs pays for over $40,000 of groceries for customers at Atlanta store

Customers at an Atlanta grocery store were treated to a Thanksgiving surprise when a group of local entrepreneurs paid for thousands of dollars of groceries.

“We literally took up every register at the grocery store and family after family would go through,” Jason Lobdell, one of the benefactors, told CNN affiliate WXIA. “We took over all 12 aisles for two hours.”

He told WXIA he and his friends spent around $40,000 at a Kroger in Decatur, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.

“As Black entrepreneurs, we got to give back to our communities,” said Brad Giles, another benefactor involved, on his Instagram

One customer, while on her way out, said, “We have Thanksgiving food and we got tissue. God is good today, thank you,” according to WXIA.

The act of giving comes as the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to drive up food insecurity across America.

Millions are still without jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, said more than 54 million people in the country could soon face food insecurity. That is 17 million more than before the coronavirus outbreak.