Unlike a lot of places in greater Louisville, access to groceries in west Louisville can be difficult, especially for those who don’t have their own transportation.
Since 2019, the nonprofit Change Today, Change Tomorrow has worked to narrow the gap between needing food and having access to it. I talk with Taylor Ryan, the organization’s founder and executive director, about what her organization does and what more it wants to do to help feed the West End.
This excerpt from our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Taylor Ryan: I'm with Change Today, Change Tomorrow. We were started in July of 2019, so the calm before the storm. I had no idea that I would be doing this at all.
I said, I'm gonna step out and create something of my own. And so I birthed Change Today, Change Tomorrow. We focus on food justice, public health and community engagement. We've been going for six years strong now. Super, super proud of the community that we've been able to build around this little mission. We have a very small staff. We have five, six people on staff, and we are doing a lot.
Our most popular program is called Feed the West. It is a grocery gleaning program. So we are gleaning surplus groceries from our partner, Trader Joe's. That's our grocery partner. I always tell people, we're like Robin Hood, we're going to one side of town and getting resources to bring it to the other side of town to make sure everybody eats.
We have four different Feed the West sites: We're in Shawnee on Mondays, Park Hill on Tuesdays, Portland on Wednesdays, and then California on Thursdays. We start at 12 p.m. and we serve food until we run out.
Michelle Tyrene Johnson: Now, when you say serve food, do you mean food that has been cooked?
TR: No, they’re getting groceries. And when I say groceries, I mean it’s a full grocery shopping experience. You are getting your produce, fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, bread, all your essential items that you would make a healthy meal with. And then at the end of your grocery shopping experience, you also get flowers. Trader Joe's always gives us boxes and boxes of flowers and plants. That’s an additional piece of love and care that we leave people with.
MTJ: By serving primarily the West End, you're primarily serving Black residents. Is that accurate to say?
TR: I would say that's our priority, but that is a common misconception. For example, in Portland, we have a huge white turnout. We're serving everybody. We're prioritizing Black people, but we're not turning anybody away. It is first come, first served. We usually have a very consistent 200 families that come through between the four locations. We're loving on folks and skin color does not matter. People would assume, because it's the West End, that means just Black people, but we're having a poverty and proximity issue.
Change Today, Change Tomorrow is way more than a food box giveaway. When you come into our space, you are loved. You are cared for. I have met so many people who went from one spot in their life to completely starting businesses. I know over 100 people that have started their own business since I've started Change Today, Change Tomorrow. We are growing our ecosystem. We are creating a community of care. We know the people we serve. We know their kids.
