Ozarks Food Harvest volunteer celebrates making a difference for his community
Ozarks Food Harvest volunteer Gary DeHaven spent his career working in bustling news stations across the country, so when he retired in southwest Missouri, he knew he wanted to find a way to give back to the community and keep busy.
“The working world, it was very organized,” said Gary. “When I retired, I spent most of the year at home. Then I got down to December and I needed something to do because the grass wasn’t growing anymore and it was too cold to play golf. And so, I found Ozarks Food Harvest and I really identified with the mission.”
Gary discovered Ozark Food Harvest in 2016 and now volunteers once a week at The Food Bank. He most often volunteers in The Food Bank’s distribution center in Springfield, sorting food to be distributed across Ozarks Food Harvest’s 28-county service area. He said he knows how difficult it is for people to make ends meet, and that he volunteers because “It does good.”
Gary wishes people knew how prevalent hunger is in the Ozarks and that, even with media exposure and awareness campaigns, a greater recognition of poverty in southwest Missouri is needed. He was particularly surprised when he volunteered at a Mobile Food Pantry at one of Ozarks Food Harvest’s partner charities and saw the vast need for food assistance. “There’s times I’ve seen 150 cars in line,” he explained. As of 2024, 1 in 5 children and 1 in 6 adults experience hunger in southwest Missouri.
In addition to helping his community, Gary enjoys volunteering because he gets to be in the company of his fellow volunteers. He even looks up to some of them, like 93-year-old Don Landon. “Don Landon, with 2,000 hours [of volunteer time], I always said when I grew up, I wanted to be like him,” Gary shared. “He’s now 90-something, and he just retired last week.”
Besides getting to spend time with other volunteers, Gary said one of the best parts of volunteering is connection to the mission. “It is a good mission,” Gary said. “When I go home after a shift, I feel we were productive… It’s great.”
Gary has now invested 1,780 hours of volunteer time into the community through his work with Ozarks Food Harvest. Without volunteers like Gary, Ozarks Food Harvest could not work to Transform Hunger into Hope in the Ozarks. Thank you, Gary! If you’d like to volunteer at the Food Bank, visit ozarksfoodharvest.org/volunteer.