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105.9 KGBX hosts 17th annual Hungerthon for Ozarks Food Harvest

105.9 KGBX hosts 17th annual Hungerthon for Ozarks Food Harvest

September 8, 2015

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Ozarks Food Harvest and iHeartMedia’s 105.9 KGBX will kick off the 17th annual Hungerthon radio-thon Friday morning with a goal of raising $125,000 for The Food Bank’s Weekend Backpack Program, which provides food insecure children with a backpack full of nutritious, child-friendly food items to take home over the weekends.

Kevin Howard and Liz Delany of 105.9 KGBX will host the four-day, community-wide event for nearly 30 hours, during Hunger Action Month—Friday, Sept. 11 through Monday, Sept. 14—asking listeners to help sponsor Weekend Backpacks. Listeners can also tune in online at kgbx.com or on smartphones and tablets by downloading the iHeartRadio app.

Event hours are 6 a.m.­–7 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.–3 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Sunday and 6–10 a.m. Monday. Listeners can call 417-577-7664 or toll free at 1-800-445-1059 to make a pledge, or donate at the event outside iHeartMedia, located at the Historic Tower Theater near Glenstone and Sunshine in Springfield.

For a donation of $300, or $25 monthly, a child will receive two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, two snacks, drinks and hygiene items every single weekend of an entire school year. Donors can also sponsor a child for a semester at $150, or $12.50 monthly. Those who donate $105.90 or more will receive a free Hungerthon 2015 commemorative T-shirt that can be picked up at the tent outside iHeartMedia.

There are 51 southwest Missouri schools in 15 counties that benefit from Ozarks Food Harvest’s Weekend Backpack Program, which now distributes 56,000 food bags annually.

Signature business and foundation sponsors who are matching donated backpacks include MassMutual Financial Group, The Musgrave Foundation, SGC Foodservice, Cox Health, PRIME Inc., Taylor Communications, Peck’s Insurance & Financial Services, Colwell Captures, Huff Distributing, Nancy Jester, Ron & Janice Penney and Yahweh’s Place of Cedarville, MO.

Family Pharmacy and Sonic are returning as event sponsors as well as many other local businesses.

Last year’s event raised over $129,000—enough to provide more than 420 children in need with six nutritious meals every weekend for the entire school year. Since 1999, nearly $1.5 million has been raised through Hungerthon.

Community members can donate to Hungerthon online outside of event hours at kgbx.com, keyword Hungerthon. To find out more about local Hunger Action Month activities, visit ozarksfoodharvest.org.

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About Ozarks Food Harvest–The Food Bank

Ozarks Food Harvest is the Feeding America food bank for southwest Missouri, serving 200 organizations across 28 Ozarks counties. The Food Bank distributes 13.6 million meals annually to more than 260,000 unduplicated individuals. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org, facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest or twitter.com/ozksfoodharvest.