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First-time national donor delivers 40,000 pounds of dairy product

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Ozarks Food Harvest received a truckload of margarine and cheese sauce from a national donor, Land O’Lakes, today at noon at its warehouse in north Springfield.

“As a national, farmer-owned cooperative, Land O’Lakes is committed to helping the growing number of people struggling to put food on their table,” said Land O’Lakes Foundation Executive Director Lydia Botham.

The donation will be Land O’Lakes’ tenth donation in the second year of its “First Run” program. “First Run” is part of Land O’Lakes Feeding Our Communities initiative, a program dedicated to helping alleviate hunger locally, nationally and internationally by donating fresh product to food banks quarterly.

“The number of food insecure households is at a record high in this weak economy, and the high cost of food sure doesn’t help,” said Ozarks Food Harvest Development Director Denise Gibson. “Thankfully, partners such as Land O’Lakes are allowing us to offer items that are typically more expensive, like dairy, to our agencies. Our member feeding sites can cook with these product donations and our member food pantries will be able to offer the margarine or cheese sauce on their shopping menus.”

The Springfield donation is one of four “First Run” donations this quarter totaling 160,000 lbs. of product. Donations are also being made today in Detroit, Mich., Visalia, Calif. and Austin, Texas.

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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 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 Land O’Lakes, Inc.
Land O’Lakes, Inc. (www.landolakesinc.com) is a national, farmer-owned food and agricultural cooperative with annual sales of $11 billion. Land O’Lakes does business in all 50 states and more than 60 countries. It is a leading marketer of a full line of dairy-based consumer, foodservice and food ingredient products across the United States; serves its international customers with a variety of food and animal feed ingredients; and provides farmers and ranchers with an extensive line of agricultural supplies (feed, seed, and crop protection products) and services.  Land O’Lakes also provides agricultural assistance and technical training in more than 25 developing nations.