by Sharelle B. McNair
October 15, 2025
Rhonda Vesey, known as “Aunt Rhonda,” created a successful grassroots campaign
The story of Rhonda Vesey, who stopped at nothing to bring a grocery store to a Syracuse, New York, food desert, proves that sometimes it takes community leadership to get what’s needed in their own neighborhoods, Syracuse.com reported.
Vesey, a former corporate finance professional and the daughter of a 1950s Civil Rights pioneer, took matters into her own hands to bring fresh food options back to the Valley neighborhood in need after Tops Friendly Markets shut down. In collaboration with Buffalo-based grocery entrepreneur A.K. Kaid, Vesey, known as “Aunt Rhonda,” successfully led a grassroots campaign to replace Tops with the Super Imperial Market, which offers fresh produce, meats, prepared hot foods, and other key grocery items.
Kaid called her “a big player” in playing the auntie role of staying on top of the project. Opened in May 2025, the project included renovations with a price tag of $2.1 million.
Vesey said she was “knocking on everybody’s doors,” leaning on her impressive rolodex of contacts, including the plaza owner, Ellicott Development, founded by former New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. She spent five years emailing, calling, and visiting grocery store operators across the Northeast, even hounding local, state, and federal elected officials to support the cause.
After leaving her career in finance in 2020, Vesey put all her energy into creating Food Access Healthy Neighborhoods Now (FAHNN), a local organization that works with volunteers to fill the gap with fresh food options, with farmers’ markets for neighborhoods labeled as food deserts — areas where little fresh produce is available near residents’ homes. Her work has not only fed those in desperate need but also helped her thrive, getting through the hard days following the passing of her mother. “Since [I started], I have not been depressed since. I’ve been running fast and furious,” Vesey said, according to Local Syr.
“Having the title in Syracuse, New York, of being the most impoverished in the nation is an ugly title. And that’s another reason, I’m going to keep running.”
Shutting its doors in 2018, Tops was the last fresh food resource in proximity. The closest options were roughly two miles away, creating a significant barrier for low-income residents who often lack reliable transportation. And Syracuse is not the only city dealing with such issues. Lack of fresh food access is a problem in just about every American city, some with a strong Black and Hispanic demographic. City leadership often struggles to convince store owners to invest in low-income areas.
Cities like Muncie, Indiana, located in Delaware County, are one of them. Out of 65,000 residents, 64% live in areas considered food deserts, according to Cardinal Media. CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank, Becca Clawson, said the county has “one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the state.”
But thanks to Black women like Aunt Rhonda, who have embraced the challenge of creating reliable food options, things may start to turn around. “We don’t want to see a store leave us again,” she said.
“It can’t happen.”
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