Our Partner Charities
Ozarks Food Harvest’s network is made up of more than 270 faith-based and community charities
As the only food bank serving southwest Missouri, Ozarks Food Harvest provides food, supplies, funding, infrastructure grants, training and support to more than just food pantries. In fiscal year 2024, the total value of services we provided to partner charities was nearly $45 million. Although the majority of partner charities served by Ozarks Food Harvest are food pantries, other charities in The Food Bank’s network include community kitchens, and organizations that serve specific populations such as children and seniors facing hunger, people affected by domestic violence, individuals with developmental disabilities and people experiencing homelessness. To contact a hunger-relief partner, go to Need Help.
Benefits of OFH Membership
network membership is more than just receiving food
The only food bank in southwest Missouri, Ozarks Food Harvest is consistently soliciting major food and financial donors on behalf of its partner charities. These donations, as well as purchased product through OFH’s Purchased Food Program, are warehoused at the O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief in Springfield, Missouri. The Food Bank’s facility is 102,000 total square feet, and half of this space is dedicated to storing perishable and frozen product. Ozarks Food Harvest also ensures all food is safe — inspecting every donation, checking it against recalls and tracking it for future recalls.
The Food Bank offers these distribution benefits and more!
- Delivery of food and non-food items
- Additional Mobile Food Pantry distributions
- Supplemental Produce Distributions
- SNAP Outreach
- The Glean Team for rescuing local garden and farm harvests
- Food drive outreach assistance
- Retail Pick-Up Program connections and management
- Disaster-relief management and support
THE FOOD BANK has provided $595,680 in funding to its network of partner charities in just the past three years alone
In fact, Ozarks Food Harvest was the first food bank in Missouri to offer pass-through funding to its partner charities. Partner charities in good standing are eligible to apply for funding opportunities from Ozarks Food Harvest. The Food Bank secures these donations and offers them to partner charities with the donors’ wishes in mind. These gifts range from purchased food to infrastructure support, such as industrial coolers, walk-in freezers, shelving and computers. This enabled The Food Bank to more than double the fresh produce distributed, exceeding strategic initiative goals. Ozarks Food Harvest grants are key to strengthening and sustaining our partner charities.
The Food Bank provides continuing education opportunities for member agencies
Ozarks Food Harvest’s knowledgeable team is sincerely committed to solving hunger in the Ozarks. The member services staff at OFH has a direct line, with a friendly voice prepared to answer questions or concerns. Call (417) 380-5007 to inquire about these opportunities. The Food Bank also offers its conference room and audio/visual equipment free-of-charge for members.
Ozarks Food Harvest offers year-round agency training
- Annual agency conference with educational workshops
- Food Safety training
- Civil Rights training
- Charity Tracker training and assistance
- Online ordering assistance
- Nutrition education resources and materials
- Hunger Study research management and ongoing statistics
- Community referral resources
- Networking opportunities with other similar agencies and professionals
The Food Bank is always advocating on behalf of its network
Ozarks Food Harvest is constantly meeting with hunger-relief partners across 28 southwest Missouri counties and representatives in both Jefferson City and Washington D.C. to advocate for its network of partner charities. The Food Bank is an active member of Feeding Missouri and Feeding America, the nation’s network of food banks. Through these strong partnerships, Ozarks Food Harvest is able to gain awareness and support about the issue of hunger in southwest Missouri. The Food Bank also strives to advocate for partner charities via social media. Food Bank staff provide social media assistance to members and offer training at the bi-annual agency conference for staff, volunteers and board members.
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SNAP
Learn more about how your agency can benefit when clients apply for food stamps.
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Advocacy
Feeding America identifies and advances policy solutions to put struggling families on the road to healthy, hunger-free lives, and you can help.
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Events
View The Food Bank's upcoming events to get involved.
All of Ozarks Food Harvest’s partner agencies comply with a non-discrimination policy and are prohibited from refusing service to anyone based on race, creed, religious or political affiliation, gender or sexual preferences. Agencies are also prohibited from requiring participation in any religious services or activities in exchange for Ozarks Food Harvest’s food or services.