Media

Walmart and Community Foundation of the Ozarks respond to Feeding America® study with major gifts to Ozarks Food Harvest for second consecutive year

WHAT:  Press Conference to announce local food insecurity findings; Partnership with the Walmart Foundation and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and its affiliate community foundations to be revealed

WHERE:  Ozarks Food Harvest, 2810 N. Cedarbrook Ave., Springfield, Mo.

WHEN:  Thursday, March 24, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Ozarks Food Harvest will announce results of a food insecurity study at a press conference Thursday morning at The Food Bank with Walmart Foundation and Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO) officials. The study is a landmark analysis of local food insecurity levels in communities Ozarks Food Harvest and CFO serves.

“The information revealed in this study not only sheds new light on the way hunger is evaluated, but it also supports what our Hunger Study 2010 told us at this time last year,” said Bart Brown, president/CEO at Ozarks Food Harvest. “We now know the percentage of those food insecure individuals living in our service area who are not eligible for any government assistance — those who must rely on our charitable response. We can review this data — along with local poverty levels and Hunger Study data — to enhance the picture of need in the Ozarks.”

In response to this new data, Walmart and the Community of the Foundation of the Ozarks are teaming up for the second consecutive year to increase hunger relief efforts — along with Ozarks Food Harvest and its members — across southwest Missouri.

“We will continue to partner with supporters such as the Walmart Foundation State Giving Program and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, along with other hunger relief organizations to bring more food and funds into our region in order to narrow the gap,” Brown said.

“Although we seek to meet the needs of food insecure individuals and families, it is not always easy to identify the need for food within our communities,” Brown said. “Measuring need based on poverty alone provides an incomplete illustration of need within the counties we serve.”

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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. The Food Bank now reaches 20,000 individuals weekly and distributes nine million pounds of food annually—made possible due to its network of charities and direct-relief programs such as the Weekend Backpack Program™, Kids Cafe® and the Mobile Food Pantry™ program. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org and at facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest.

About Philanthropy at Walmart
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are proud to support the charitable causes that are important to customers and associates in their own neighborhoods. The Walmart Foundation funds initiatives focused on education, workforce development, economic opportunity, environmental sustainability and health and wellness. From Feb. 1, 2009 through Jan. 31, 2010, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation gave more than $512 million in cash and in-kind gifts globally, $467 million of which was donated in the U.S. To learn more, visit www.walmartfoundation.org.

About Community Foundation of the Ozarks
The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is a public foundation serving the Missouri Ozarks. CFO is dedicated to working with its donors, nonprofit partners and affiliated community foundations in meaningful and purposeful ways. The Foundation’s mission is to enhance the quality of life in our region through resource development, community grantmaking, collaboration and public leadership. Founded in 1973, CFO has since grown to include 43 affiliate community foundations and nearly 2,000 charitable funds, with assets of $172 million as of Dec. 31, 2010. For the first six months of the 2011 fiscal year, the Foundation gave back $11.6 million in charitable grants and distributions and received more than $28.7 million in charitable contributions. Since its inception, CFO has made more than $100 million in grants and distributions. Go to www.cfozarks.org for more information.