Dare to Care Food Bank is Kentuckiana's largest hunger-relief network, serving Louisville and the surrounding metro on both sides of the Kentucky-Indiana border. Its 2025 data showed food insecurity in the region had jumped 48 percent in just two years, from roughly 126,000 to more than 186,000 food-insecure residents. Vincent James became President and CEO in 2021, coming from a role as Louisville Metro's chief of community building. Dare to Care holds a four-star Charity Navigator rating.
Dare to Care sources food at scale and distributes it across the Louisville metro through partner agencies and its own programs, including a Community Kitchen and a Kids Cafe network that serve prepared meals. Serving a metro that crosses a state line means coordinating across Kentucky and southern Indiana, and the organization has built one of the larger hunger-relief operations in the region.
Vincent James became President and CEO in 2021, an unusual move from the public sector: he had been Louisville Metro government's chief of community building. That background in city government and community development shaped his approach to a food bank serving a metro where food insecurity has risen sharply in recent years.
The service area is the Louisville metro on both sides of the Kentucky-Indiana border, the region locals call Kentuckiana. Demand has surged: the food bank's data showed food insecurity climbing 48 percent in two years amid rising costs, reaching more than 186,000 residents across the metro.
Yes. Dare to Care Food Bank is a registered 501(c)(3) and a Feeding America member with a four-star Charity Navigator rating, the highest available. Bulk buying and donated food mean a gift produces many meals.
Donations and volunteer shifts run through daretocare.org. Volunteers sort and pack food, help in the Community Kitchen, and staff distributions, and cash gifts go furthest because of the food bank’s purchasing power.
Dare to Care covers the Louisville metro, while God's Pantry serves central and eastern Kentucky and Feeding America, Kentucky's Heartland covers the central, south-central, and western counties. For anyone in the Louisville area, Dare to Care is the lead organization.
Agencies across the Louisville metro receive food.
Prepared meals from donated and purchased food.
Meals for children through after-school and community sites.
Food brought into underserved neighborhoods.
Sources: Dare to Care Food Bank website (daretocare.org), Charity Navigator (EIN 23-7345952), and Spectrum News 1 reporting on the appointment of Vincent James. We are not affiliated with Dare to Care Food Bank and receive no compensation for this listing. Spotted an error? [email protected]
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