LOUISVILLE, Ky. —When residents in the West End of Louisville learned that the Kroger on West Broadway was closing early Friday and Saturday of Derby weekend, the number of people in need of The Hope Buss services spiked.

What You Need To Know

  • The Kroger on West Broadway closed early on Derby weekend

  • The decision was made to allow time for employees to leave before traffic became an issue

  • It is the only grocery store in a short walking distance in West End

  • The nonprofit Hope Buss helped transport residents

“Even if it was just for these days over the weekend it still impacts folks. It’s the beginning of the month, people are getting paid, people are getting their EBT money,” says The Hope Buss chair member Angel Todd. 

The Hope Buss is a nonprofit organization that launched two years ago to help those living in food deserts with no source of transportation get access to affordable food by offering free rides to stores and delivering groceries to home. 

The Kroger is in walking distance from those in West End, but if they needed to get groceries after 5 p.m. on Friday or 7 p.m. on Saturday the nearest open grocery store was miles away. 

"It’s heartbreaking to me because I recently moved deeper into the West End. I fortunately have the ability to have a car so I can choose to go wherever I want to shop. The reality for many of my neighbors and my community is that they don’t have those options,” says Todd. 

The Hope Buss serves communities around Louisville year-round, so to keep up with usual demands and this new need, they reached out to the community to help. 

Hope dealers and West End residents responded to that call to support their neighbors by shuttling people to other grocery stores and picking up online orders. 

"That’s exactly what we want to happen anyway. We want the aunties and the uncles on the block to help take care of each other,” says Todd. 

The store returned to normal business hours Sunday. 

Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) says the decision to close the store early was made to allow time for employees to leave work before Derby traffic became an issue like it has in previous years.