Louisville, where we introduce you to the people, places and things that make up Kentucky's largest city.

This week we take you inside.

Dare to care food bank.

Now, you may know it as the nonprofit that helps provide food to those in need.

But you may not know the story behind it.

It was Thanksgiving Day of 1969 when a nine year old boy named Bobby Ellis was found dead in his home.

Bobby had died of hunger.

It was on that Thanksgiving when the Louisville community came together to vow to never let it happen again.

But even today, 1 in 5 children experience food insecurity in Kentucky.

Now, 56 years later, Bobby Ellis legacy lives on in Dare to Care.

Here's his story.

>> I learned about myself when I was 20, when I actually got to meet a reporter, and he came to my house and when I started reading, I read the conditions that we lived in.

And I read, you know, the stuff that was actually actually had happened to us.

And I was just like, wow, that's me.

You know, I mean, I didn't, you know, sometimes you don't know yourself, but it's good to find out who you are.

>> I'm the oldest of 13 children, and my mama taught me that the greatest thing in this world is love.

And put that in our heart to love people regardless.

Because love is the answer to salvation.

>> And so as I became an adult, it didn't make me bitter.

It didn't make me mean toward people.

It didn't make me hate people.

It just made me want to find love through somebody else.

And when I met my adopted mama, she showed me all that.

And she taught me everything to be who I am today.

She did.

>> We were sending out missionaries to take food on Thanksgiving, and that's when one of my group found this little child that was in the bed had starved to death.

They they come back hollering and crying and talking and telling her.

>> I didn't even know I had a brother.

It was it was heartbreaking.

How do you, like, not notice that a nine year old boy, when they said he didn't go to school often, but he came to school.

The system failed.

Both them and those kids.

Us?

Nobody.

Nobody checked on us.

Because if people were coming out to check on my mom and my dad and us, that my brother wouldn't have never passed away.

That's all somebody had to do was just call and check on us, and nobody checked on us.

When you don't have the proper nutrition, when you are not able to eat every day, when you don't intake what you need to intake, it causes the body to malfunction.

We don't know what people are going through, so you can't judge people because they might not seem nice or whatever.

It's about checking on people.

It's about finding out, how are you doing?

Are you okay?

>> Ain't nothing new under the sun.

Always have took an event.

Out of that event.

Came down to care.

And that what we have to look at.

There always got to be an event to take place.

Don't care.

How difficult was.

>> I was two years old and I weighed 10 pounds.

We all could have passed away.

Not just my brother because we all were underweight.

So I felt like God took my brother to save us.

That's what I always tell myself.

This is what I understand because I'm older, I understand.

But people, some people are too proud to ask for help and what they fail to realize.

You might not want the help, but if you have children, they need the help.

I don't know my brother, but in my spirit, I know my brother.

You know what I mean?

So whatever I do in my brother's name, I feel like I'm my brother and my brother's keeper.

Yes I am.

Yes I am.

And that's what we need to be.

Our brothers keepers.

We do.

>> Vincent James is the CEO of Dare to Care Food Bank.

Thanks for joining us.

And we just heard that powerful story of Bobby Ellis.

Yes.

Talk to us about that.

And how the creation of Dare to Care came from this tragic story.

>> Well, thank you, Kelsey, for having me on the show.

We're really excited about the opportunity to be able to share a little bit about Dare to Care.

And that's the origin of Dare to Care.

In terms in 1969, on a tragic Thanksgiving Eve, a young family was found and a young man in particular was found starving, starving, of malnutrition from malnutrition.

And it was interesting because some church members actually came by the house and they were asking families about Thanksgiving baskets, and that's how they discovered the kids.

And and Bobby was the one that was suffering the most.

And that night he died.

And as a result of that, some faith leaders in the community came together and other community leaders and said, this can't happen in our community anymore.

What do we need to do?

And that's what started Dare to Care.

It was asking the question, what do we need to do to make a difference?

And people have been supporting Dare to Care and Making a Difference ever since 1969 of that tragic day that actually turned into something very beautiful and providing food for those who don't have access to food.

The very thing he died from is an opportunity gave opportunity for other families to be fed in the future.

And so it's really powerful being able to consistently make that connection because it reminds us of why we exist.

>> Yeah.

And the legacy there.

And it is something you think about and you think, you know, that long ago.

It's so tragic.

But to think there are now I think new numbers are showing.

1 in 5 children.

Yes.

Kentucky dealing with food insecurity.

So it is not a problem of the past.

It's still very much a problem.

>> It's very much a problem of today.

Yeah.

As much as it was then, it is even more so today.

Just the past two years, we've seen a 48% increase in demand for the services that we provide in terms of having access to food, which is, you know, just incredible.

When you think about last year, we had distributed 27 million pounds of food.

That's about 22 million meals starting from in 1969 was a truck and food, where they collect it and then started sharing it with neighbors.

And so we've grown tremendously.

We've grown with the demand and the need.

And one of the things that we're really working hard on too, is how can we not only just supply the food, but how can we help families to stabilize and and really, instead of just surviving, how can they thrive?

And that's a newer model that we're looking at and working with in today's time in terms of equitable food access, no matter where you live, you have access to food.

And so we're building that infrastructure out now, but it's reflective of what we started with in 1969.

>> Yeah.

And those numbers at 48% increase in the last two years is is just deeply concerning.

Why is that?

I mean, any of us know the price of food is increasing.

>> Exactly.

>> That has some something to do with it.

>> Absolutely.

I think it's been the perfect storm, if you will.

You know, you had the post pandemic benefits.

They ceased to exist.

You had inflation.

You also have inflation and gas prices, inflation in food.

When you go to the grocery store, your average working family experiences this every day.

And if you are already struggling, and then on top of all the things that you're experiencing now, it was almost a perfect storm.

So you had less resources coming into the community, higher need that was now manifesting as a result of the inflation in gas prices and food.

And that that really catapulted into what we're seeing today of this increase in demand.

We're having families for the very first time visiting some of our partners.

We have over 300, 400 partners throughout 13 counties that we serve, and we're seeing families coming for the very first time.

>> And I know some of the federal funding cuts are also impacting you all.

That's part of the puzzle.

>> Absolutely.

We've seen a 36% decrease in federal commodities.

That is a part of what we distribute through Dare to Care just this year alone.

And so we don't know where that's going to land.

And at the same time we're seeing a decrease in federal support.

We are seeing an increase need in our neighbors needing food, access to food.

>> Yeah.

You mentioned those 400 partner organizations.

Explain how how the organization works.

You said it's evolved quite a bit.

>> Quite a bit.

Six years, right?

Yes, yes, it's evolved quite a bit.

One of the things we do, and I want to make sure that people understand, we take in food and we deliver food, distribute food.

And so if you were to think about the sources of food that we get, we have about 28% of our food comes from federal government.

The remaining comes from retail and donations.

And then dare to care purchase food.

We purchase it ourselves.

And so what we've seen in terms of what's been really interesting is that you'll have ebbs and flows in all of those different streams of resources coming into the organization.

But never have we seen a decrease in all of those sources.

And that's what we're experiencing now.

And so that's the real challenge that we're faced with.

With usually we may see an uptick in retail.

We may see an uptick in federal fed com, or we may see an uptick in terms of just donations.

But we're seeing a decrease across the board, along with the time at a time that we're seeing an increase in need.

And so we're navigating that and trying to navigate it best we can.

But it's really in times like these and Dare to Care has been around for 50 plus years.

It's really been the community that stood up and said, we want to help and support.

And that's really how dare Care has navigated all of these challenging times.

And that's what we're looking for today, for our community to stand up and say, you know, we understand the challenges and we want to support what the work that you're doing and feeding families.

>> Yeah.

And so how can the community step up to help?

>> Well, they can do it in multiple ways.

They can go to Dare to Care org and they can actually sign up to volunteer if they want to support.

In terms of the work that's happening in our operations.

Or they can donate resources in terms of financial resources, they can donate right online.

One of the things we like to do is really drive folks to be able to think about doing something consistently on a monthly basis.

We have an Apple Corps program that folks can really engage with.

They can set up a monthly giving and then forget about it.

They know that they're going to continue to support Dare to Care as long as those resources are coming through, or they can donate one time and give a gift that way to support families.

For every dollar that's donated to Dare to Care, we're able to provide families with two meals, and so we're able to leverage the volume that we're able to purchase, as well as what we receive from the federal government.

And then laying that over in terms with what we are able to distribute throughout the community.

>> What are some some of the changes that you all have implemented now with this current perfect storm as you described it?

What are some of the ways you are adapting?

>> Well, a couple of things that we're doing in terms of we have a kids Cafe program.

The Kids Cafe program is is where we serve out of school time programing with access to two meals, either during the summertime they have two meals and during the winter months during school, they actually have one meal because they eat at school, and then they'll go to the out of school time program, and then we'll provide a wholesome meal for them.

As a matter of fact, that was the first time that I actually encountered Dare to Care.

In my previous role, I was visiting one of our facilities and they had a kids cafe program, and I was smelling all this good food and I'm like, where's this food coming from?

And they said, oh, we're partners with Dare to Care.

And lo and behold, we'd never thought I would have been now in the position I'm serving now.

But Dare to Care has been near and dear to my heart for a long time, and being able to now steer the organization to the vision and to the future, it's really been exciting.

And so we have these kids cafe programs that fill the gap in terms of where families may not have even access to food to be able to feed their children in the evening times.

And we know that.

So we fill that gap.

We also have school pantries where schools and students and families can come to their family resource center and have an on site food pantry right there that they can get access to food five days a week.

As long as the school is open, they have access to our food pantries, and that's a partnership we have with Dare to Care.

We also have programing because we recognize that food is really medicine in terms of healing the body and does all kinds of things for us.

And so we have a food as medicine initiative where we're providing medically tailored meals to gestational diabetes patients that have an opportunity to be able to get the food that they need while they're going through their situation.

And so we are have multiple opportunities to really be able to touch our community on multiple different levels.

Along with that, we also have an opportunity where we're providing resources to our partners that we have in order for them to actually expand their work.

So we provide grants to our partners to continue to build out the infrastructure that we need to serve our families.

>> And I'm sure you hear so many stories.

>> Yes.

>> People in need, as you mentioned, you know, you may even have a family of two parents working who still need help feeding their children.

>> Yes, absolutely.

We we identify them as the working poor.

I mean, unfortunately, we have people who go to work every day, but yet they can't afford all the the needs that they have.

And so what we they are having to make very difficult decisions.

They're having to make decisions to put gas in my car, or do I buy food for my family?

If I don't put gas in the car, I can't go to work, then I can't get the resources to buy food.

And so they're making these very difficult decisions every day, having to navigate that.

And it's only becoming more challenging, more difficult as we continue to see the rise in prices and groceries.

>> Yeah.

What are some of those.

The majority of the stories that you hear or what?

>> Yeah.

Well, just the other day we had what we call a mobile pantry where we would go into a community where we don't have a partner and we will set up a shop because we want to make sure that everyone has access to food.

And so with the mobile pantries, a lot of times those where folks will drive through, we will set up wherever we are in a parking lot or church parking lot or community center.

We will set up where cars can drive through, and we will have various food items that they can have access to, and we'll put those on the in the car and folks will drive on off.

Well, the other day we had a food pantry that I was participating in, and one of the things that one of the young ladies that she didn't know that that we were going to have this food pantry, food drive, and she heard about it.

And when she heard about it, this was her first time coming.

She had just been laid off, and she didn't have any money for groceries.

And she was she said, I was home crying last night because I didn't have any food for my kids.

She said.

My girlfriend called me and she said, dare to care is having a food giveaway.

You need to go.

And she came.

She drove through and I was standing at the end and she was just in tears.

It's almost bringing me to tears to talk about it because we get to do that every day in people's lives.

You know?

I wish we didn't have to do it.

One of my goals is to work myself out of a job.

I would love to say that everyone has access to food, but the reality is that that's not where we live today.

We have for 1 in 5 children experiencing food insecurity and 1 in 7 adults are experiencing food insecurity.

>> And that's.

>> That's in Kentucky.

Yes, yes.

And so we're we're we're seeing those challenges.

But the community, with the support of the community, we rising to the challenges.

>> Yeah.

Talk to me about, you know, for the people who are not the 1 in 5 and not the 1 in 7 who are, you know, go to the grocery.

And how does food insecurity affect an entire community?

Because it it does make an impact.

>> Yes.

Well, when you think about I'll go back to Nikki Ellis, Bobby Ellis's sister, who shared with me when I one of the first things I did when I became the CEO is that I went and started, was talking with her.

I wanted to know more about our family, to really understand the origins of what really took place, to start Dare to Care.

And one of the things she was sharing with me as a result of food insecurity that she experienced, and that's simply waking up in the morning and not knowing how you're going to eat, or when you're going to eat, or what you're going to eat.

And she said that all of her siblings have cognitive issues.

They're challenged cognitively because of the lack of food that they had during a period of time when they were younger.

And that happens to children today.

We know that if a kid doesn't get food in the morning when they go to breakfast, when they go to school, they're not going to be able to focus on education.

They're going to be focusing on what am I going, what am I going to eat?

And so it impacts us in multiple ways and for generations it has an impact.

So that's why it's important that we really work hard to solve this issue, because some of the challenges that we're seeing with mental health issues stem from food insecurity, people living their lives, and not having access to healthy food that can help to nourish their bodies, that they might have healthy and productive lives.

When you don't have access to that, you are now susceptible to all kinds of diseases because typically what people will do, they will buy high processing food, as opposed because that's the only thing that they can afford.

Well, we know that what that does to the body.

And so what we're doing is really trying to educate the public on the need for healthy food, educate folks who may not have that understanding.

We have a program that we provide at Dare to Care called Cooking Matters.

And with Cooking Matters, we're able to educate the public on how to take your traditional, culturally relevant food and cook it in a healthy way.

And so it's really been exciting to see, especially kids, when they come in and and participate in that.

Last couple of years ago, we had a partnership with GE appliances and they purchased the kids all new ovens, GE ovens, small ovens, and we provided them with the food that they could cook for Thanksgiving.

And so that was a real exciting time to see kids learning how to cook and then knowing that they had the food to take home to cook.

But that's what you call changing a generation.

You're educating them, you're providing them with the resources, and now they can go do for themselves.

>> Yeah.

And we talked about some of the impacts of federal cuts and legislation.

There has been legislation introduced in the state about cutting Snap benefits right in, in the past and possibly in the future as well.

Talk about how that impacts the community and and your organization.

>> Right.

It impacts it in a significant way.

When we think about dare to Care, when I mentioned earlier, for every dollar that's donated, we're able to provide two meals for every Snap dollar.

It's nine meals.

>> Oh, wow.

>> And so, you know, when you think about that huge of a gap and when it's cut, that means you're having families to put it in perspective.

You know, the state spends about $16 million a month in terms of Snap benefits.

When you're reducing that, that's going to we can't even cover that.

Dare to care is budget is 14 million in terms of what we raise each year.

And we can't cover that one month gap, let alone a whole year's gap.

And so we really have to really think hard in terms of how we rise up as a community to support those families that are going to be in need, because true enough, they're going to be there's going to be a greater need than what we've seen in the past two years.

>> Yeah.

And what is your solution to dealing with those cuts right now?

>> Well, what we're doing now is really actually just left a meeting the day before I came here talking about the very thing as to how we're thinking strategically about what we need to do and how we need to do it.

And so a couple of things, in terms of what we're doing now is definitely because we want to respond immediately in terms to the need.

So we're front loading some of the things that we would have purchased at the end in the fourth quarter of our of our year.

We're purchasing now in the first quarter and second quarter.

And so hopefully we can see some turnaround and maybe some support.

But we also are asking our neighbors to step up because this is a time, if ever before that we need our neighbors to step up to say, hey, we want to support Dare to Care because we're taking those resources and putting them right back into the community.

But that's the way that we're going to be able to navigate this.

It's going to really be what I would consider a multi-sector approach.

We need the private sector.

We need the public sector.

We need the nonprofit sector, all the different multiple sectors to come together and help support our families that are in need.

>> And this isn't just benefiting Louisville.

This is benefiting multiple counties in Kentucky and elsewhere.

>> Yes, yes, you're absolutely right, Kelsey.

We have eight counties that we serve in Kentucky, and we have five counties that we serve in southern Indiana.

And so that provides us the opportunity to be able to be on both sides of the river and to be able to support those families that are in need.

And, and, and the interesting thing is, is that it's both rural and rural and urban settings that we're serving.

And the demand is the same.

>> And for other parts of Kentucky, too, we talk a lot about what happens in Louisville directly benefits parts of Kentucky, even parts that you may not serve economically.

Yes.

Otherwise.

>> Absolutely.

And, you know, one of the things is, is that there are seven what we call identify as regional food banks in Kentucky.

And we all cover various areas of surrounding states and then Kentucky itself.

And so that makes up feeding Kentucky.

That's the organization that is housed in Frankfort that represents all the seven food banks that are serving our community.

And so when you are donating to one food bank, you're impacting seven food banks across the state that we're providing food for, our neighbors that are in need.

>> And neighbors all across.

>> Yes, all across Kentucky.

>> You can watch and share this episode anytime online at ket.org InsideLouisville.

Plus, you can follow us on social media, find out more about how you can help Dare to Care's mission in Louisville and beyond.

You can find us on Instagram at KET.

Lou, thanks for spending a little time getting to know Louisville.

I hope we'll see you here next time.

Until then, make it a great week.