The District Chronicles

Issue date: 10/4/09 Section: Cover

Media Credit: Freddie Allen Harding-Walcott helps Temple Hills resident Josephine Brown choose the right supplement.

It's a light Saturday at "It's My Own" organic health food store at 3227 Brinkley Road in the Rosecroft Shopping Center, Temple Hills. The regulars picked up their organic groceries for the week. Store owner Erica Harding-Walcott assisted new customers that trickled in to purchase energy drinks and natural supplements.

Even though "It's My Own" organic food store sees more than its fair share of slow days, owner Harding-Walcott is determined to keep it open. For her, the battle for the health of the Black community is worth fighting and winning.

One thing Harding-Walcott is certain of is that there are African American vegetarian, vegan and raw food lovers in Prince George's County. Many spend time and money on long trips to large-scale organic food chains to find the items they need. Some even resort to buying products from anonymous vendors online.

This shouldn't be so, she said with a twinge of disappointment in her voice.

"Health food lovers shouldn't have to drive all the way to DC, Northern Virginia to buy groceries," she said.

At "It's My Own", residents can find healthy food options, quality, affordable products, and a forum to ask questions and share ideas," Harding-Walcott said.

She is urging those interested in organic foods and supplements to visit her grocery store or web site, www.itsmyownhealthfoodstore.com, which she says are dedicated to serving the needs of Prince George's County's growing health conscious community.

"I don't bring anything in my store that I wouldn't use for my kids," said Harding-Walcott who has been a vegetarian for more than 20 years.

Harding-Walcott's inspiration for It's My Own came right out of her experience as a vegetarian. To get the staples for her family, she had to travel out of Prince George's County.

"That was my main motivating factor," she said. "I would travel 45 minutes, one way, to get the groceries I needed. After you factor in another two hours actually shopping, a trip to the grocery store would turn into a two or three hour ordeal!"

One day, she was cleaning up in her home when she stumbled on a business plan she had written 20 years previously when she was a young student at Howard University where she majored in communications. That fateful encounter led Harding-Walcott to toss her 14 years at NPR into the wind. That's when she decided to nurture her desire to be her own boss.

Continued...

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