James Berk was 16 years old and trying to find his way in an alternative high school in West Oakland, CA, when a guest visited to recruit kids interested in community activism. Berk signed up. He didn’t need the ensuing studies and surveys to tell him what his empty stomach already knew: People in the neighborhood were hungry, yet there wasn’t a store around for miles and miles that could help feed them. Berk and many of his buddies subsisted on a diet of frozen pockets, gummy candies and bags of chips. The teen decided to change things. Together with a group of fellow activists, they opened up a grocery store of their own, Mandela Foods, ensuring that families in the neighborhood could have access to real food instead of junk. “Rather than wait for someone else to do it, sometimes if you want to make change, you just have to step up and do it yourself,” Berk told Sarah Henry of Civil Eats.

When there was no grocery store to be found in his neighborhood, James Berk helped to create one. (Photo from KONNECT FILMS)