Media

Ten Lebanon/West Plains-area nonprofits receive grant awards today

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— A local foundation granted major gifts to 10 Lebanon and West Plains-area organizations at a news conference at 10:00 a.m. today at the OTC Lebanon Education Center at 22360 Highway MM in Lebanon.

The Lelia Heuer Foundation also announced today a major milestone it reached.

Representatives from each of the nonprofit recipient agencies were present; they included:

• Central Missouri Area Agency on Aging
• Christos House
• College of the Ozarks
• COPE
• Fellowship of Christian Athletes
• Lebanon Humane Society
• Missouri State University at West Plains
• Ozarks Food Harvest
• Ozarks Technical Community College
• Rural Compassion

The total gift amount was unveiled at the granting ceremony, held in the lobby of the Education Center.

The grant to Ozarks Food Harvest (OFH) will help The Food Bank’s Mobile Food Pantry (MFP) serve low-income, nontraditional students at Missouri State University–West Plains. The Heuer Foundation partnered with OFH in 2009 to help provide Mobile Food Pantry distributions to the Lebanon area. OFH’s MFP distributes an average of 14,000 pounds of food per drop, serving an average of 185 families or 500 individuals.

The Heuer Foundation provides assistance to worthy organizations dealing with health scholarships, broad health issues and animals.

# # #

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. The Food Bank reaches approximately 80,000 individuals monthly and distributes 12 million pounds of food annually. OFH was named the 2011 Small Business of the Year by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, and its facility, the O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief, recently received AIB International food safety certification. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org and at facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest.