. >> reporter: when renee gunter goes shopping for produce, she goes straight to the source, and getsand dirty. >> oh, my goodness. bugs bunny never had it so good. >> reporter: the 64-year-old resident of south los angeles is not just shopping for herself. she's shopping for her community-- >> oh, this is chocolate mint? >> reporter: --where corner markets and liquor stores substitute for absent full- service supermarkets. as a runway model, gunter traveled the world, working with some of the biggest names in fashion. >> yves saint laurent, andre courreges, and givenchy. >> reporter: but a role in a 2012 community play about food justice changed her life. >> the more i read the script, i more i realized i lived in a food desert. >> reporter: a food desert is an urban area where it's difficult to buy affordable, quality, fresh food. residents of food deserts often weigh more, suffer from higher rates of disease, like diabetes, and have a shorter life expectancy. >> i had this epiphany, and i said, "somebody needs to do something." >> reporter: and "do" she did, by opening her own fres