LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More than 700,000 Kentuckians are facing hunger, according to Feeding America. 

In an effort to help tackle food insecurity, a Louisville library has introduced the Nori Machine, which could help lead to healthier eating options in parts of the city.

“What better way to fill your belly and get knowledge at the same time?" said Damera Blincoe, Louisville Free Public Library services manager. 

The Louisville Free Public Library worked with the Library Foundation and the Nori Project, which works to bring modern vending machines to food deserts to address the problem of racial inequity in food and nutrition. Blincoe spearheaded the effort to bring a machine to Shawnee Library.

“We looked at the neighborhood and the variety of folks that come into the branch as Shawnee usually has a lot of children here after school," she said. "We wanted to have things in the branch that’s available for them.” 

The machine is filled twice a week and offers juice boxes, water, kombucha, smoothies, snacks and more. There are even locally made whole meals such as a "soul bowl" filled with chicken, corn relish and collard greens. 

“It’s good," Blincoe said. "It’s not just something that’s thrown in there that has no taste. The flavor of it and the seasoning, it’s really good." 

There aren’t many options for healthy food near Shawnee Library, which is in a food desert, said Paul Burns, LFPL director of marketing and communications. He said the hope is the machine makes a difference in people’s lives. It’s a roughly six-month pilot project.

"We know that poor nutrition or being hungry impacts people’s ability to learn and process information, especially with young children," Burns said."We know that poor nutrition or being hungry impacts people’s ability to learn and process information, especially with young children," Burns said. "We don’t want that to be a barrier to learning." 

Michael Travis, 27, comes to the library every day and recently checked out the brand-new machine for the first time, purchasing a bottle of water. 

“I feel that’s a very great addition to the library, considering we’re in the lower inner-city and it’s kind of hard to have and think about more healthy options," Travis said. "If someone comes to the library and they see this, they’re going to want to look at it." 

Travis said he’d like to see the smart fridge in all Louisville library branches.

The Nori Machine is open now for anyone in the community to use and is open during regular business hours: Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, announced the addition of the machine earlier this month. Items that don’t sell are donated to Feed Louisville.