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Hunger Action Month fundraiser helps provide 415 Weekend Backpacks

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Ozarks Food Harvest and Alice 95.5’s 16^th annual radio-thon, Hungerthon, wrapped up at 10:30 this morning, collecting a grand total of $125,000 for The Food Bank’s Weekend Backpack Program. The program provides food insecure children with nutritious, child-friendly food items to take home over the weekends.

Alice 95.5 personalities Kevin Howard and Liz Delany hosted Hungerthon, beginning last Friday morning at 6 a.m. outside the Historic Tower Theater in Springfield. Those involved spent close to 30 hours since last Friday raising money for Ozarks Food Harvest.

This year’s goal of $125,000 was exceeded, raising $126,000 to provide more than 420 at-risk children across the Ozarks with Weekend Backpack Program food bags.

Several backpacks were matched by community businesses and foundations including MassMutual Financial Group, The Musgrave Foundation, Peck’s Insurance & Financial Services, Springfield Grocer Company, SRC Holdings, Taylor Communications and the Tal & Rosalie O’Reilly Wooten Family Foundation and Yahweh’s Place of Cedarville, MO.

Event sponsors included Family Pharmacy and Sonic. Power Hour sponsors included Coyote’s Adobe Café (Springfield, Nixa and Dockside), Marias, Big Whiskey’s, Parlor 88, Backyard Burgers, Springfield Brewing Company, Millie’s, Air Services, Devo Olive Oil, Fazoli’s, Patton Alley Pub and more.

Forty-six southwest Missouri schools participate in Ozarks Food Harvest’s Backpack Program, which distributes approximately 55,000 backpacks annually. Those bags include meals for two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, two snacks and drinks.

If community members were unable to participate in the community-wide event Sept. 5–8, pledges can still be made at Ozarks Food Harvest this week or securely online at ozarksfoodharvest.org. 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. For more information, call (417) 865-3411.

Last year’s event raised $128,901. Since 1999, more than $1 million has been raised through Hungerthon. To learn more, go to ozarksfoodharvest.org or alice955.com. Find out more about local Hunger Action Month activities at ozarksfoodharvest.org/HAM14.html. Radio-thon event photos can be viewed online at alice955.com.

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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 12.5 million meals annually to more than 260,000 unduplicated individuals. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org, facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest or twitter.com/ozksfoodharvest.