Dillon Stores’ host back-to-school drive
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The four Dillon Stores in Springfield will host a back-to-school “food drive” beginning this Saturday to benefit Ozarks Food Harvest’s member food pantries and feeding sites this fall.
Dillon’s shoppers have the opportunity to purchase two different sizes of empty boxes, each representing $5 or $10 worth of nonperishable food items. The boxes will be available on a display table at the stores’ entrances. After the cashier scans the boxes, they will be collected as shoppers exit the store.
At the end of the campaign, Dillon Stores will use all funds collected to purchase case lots of groceries to present to the regional food bank. The drive will run Aug. 6–22 at the stores at National and St. Louis, W. Kearney, W. Battlefield and E. Sunshine.
Ozarks Food Harvest is also preparing for one if its own direct-relief programs for children during the school year, the Weekend Backpack Program. The program which provides backpacks with child-friendly food for students to take home over the weekends begins Friday, Sept. 2, in 30 area schools, including 13 in Springfield.
The Kansas Food Bank in Wichita and the Harvesters Community Food Network in Kansas City will also benefit from back-to-school drives at their local Kroger-owned stores during the same time period.
Dillon Stores gifted $250,000 to Ozarks Food Harvest last month for long-term relief efforts in Joplin, where The Food Bank continues to dispatch 15 truckloads of food weekly.
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About Ozarks Food Harvest—The Food Bank
Ozarks Food Harvest is the Feeding America® food bank for southwest Missouri, serving more than 300 hunger relief organizations across 28 Ozarks counties in addition to the long-term relief sites in Joplin. The Food Bank reaches 20,000 individuals weekly and distributes one million pounds of food monthly. OFH was named the 2011 Small Business of the Year by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org and at facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest.
About Dillon Stores
Dillon Stores, headquartered in Hutchinson, KS, is a division of The Kroger Co., one of the nation’s largest retail grocery chains. Dillon Stores operates 91 stores in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska under the Dillons, Baker’s, and Gerbes banners. The company employs over 11,000 associates across its operating area. Dillon Stores is pleased to celebrate its 90th anniversary of proud service in Kansas in 2011. Dillon Stores focuses its charitable efforts on supporting hunger relief, health and wellness initiatives, local schools, and grassroots organizations in the communities it serves. For more information, go to www.dillons.com, www.bakersplus.com or www.gerbes.com.