LOUISVILLE Ky. — Change Today Change Tomorrow (CTCT) is a Louisville organization focused on serving marginalized residents by providing families with fresh, healthy food.
One of the organization’s many outreach programs is Feed the West.
What You Need To Know
- Feed the West program provides families with foods they might not receive from other programs
- Volunteers deliver fresh fruit, vegetables and meats to the doorsteps of families in need
- The program was created during the summer 2020 protest when the only grocery story in the West End temporarily closed
The food assistance resource was created during the 2020 summer protests after Kroger on 27th and West Broadway temporarily closed its doors.
The program is now bigger than some staff ever planned.
"In the beginning we thought it would be a weekend long pop-up just in the Kroger parking lot, but here we are almost a year later,” said CTCT Program Manager Hannah Jones.
Feed the West now serves more than 400 families every week, providing them with items they don’t usually receive from other food assistance programs.
"You have folks that need food but the only thing they ever get are canned goods. You need dry goods and shelf stable foods in your pantry,” Jones said. "But folks also eat eggs, and they eat lettuce and spinach, and they like to eat fresh fruit.”
With donations from grocery stores, community members and local farms, the organization is able to provide fresh fruit, vegetables and meats.
"It’s not just going to be supplemental things for your pantry. You’ll have enough to make a whole meal for your family,” Jones said.
Chad Golden started as a volunteer when the program first launched but is now on the staff after seeing the impact CTCT is making.
"I’m from the west end, so I figured they are working doing something that helps the people in the west end to develop and meet their needs was something that I’m interested in,” Golden said.
Giving back to the community he grew up in has been an eye opener.
"Honestly it kind of helps me see how things really are within the city like how much people really need and how much we are kind of lacking on providing those people with those needs,” he said. "It’s things that I was already aware of but actually seeing it first hand, delivering to people’s houses and things like that, makes you see it from another perspective."
Feed the West’s main goal is to provide quality fresh food to families in need, but they also assist with diapers, hygiene products and toiletries. The staff tries to fill special requests for other items when possible.
"Even if it’s I need to get the groceries and transportation is my issue, and it’s not about money, just knowing that everything that you need for a thing of spaghetti is going to show up on Monday or on Thursday,” Jones said.
Organizers hope the program eliminates some stress from families who already have a lot of other issues on their plate.
"In the last year, being in the pandemic has just exaggerated and blown open a lot of our needs in our communities at large, and I think that you see that even more so in the communities that were already disenfranchised, so see that black folks, brown folks and other marginalized folks are even more so in the midst of the pandemic," said Jones.
If you are in need of CTCT's Feed of the West resources, you can submit an application for assistance here.