Media

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— MBA Brand Smart Chicken® donated 7,100 lbs. of frozen chicken to Ozarks Food Harvest this morning at The Food Bank’s distribution center at 2810 N. Cedarbrook Ave. in Springfield.

This is the seventh consecutive year the chicken company held its Feed the Hungry promotion, donating one pound of chicken to The Food Bank for every ten pounds of its products purchased at local grocers. In addition to MBA Poultry’s donation to Ozarks Food Harvest, the company will also be making donations to the Kansas Food Bank and the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank this week, totaling approximately 24,000 lbs. of donated product.

“We’ve been very fortunate this month,” said Denise Gibson, development director at Ozarks Food Harvest. “Protein isn’t something that is donated every day through standard food drives or walk-in donations. The Food Bank receives the majority of meat items through our retail pick up programs with partners such as Walmart, Sam’s Club and Dillons Supermarkets. We were so thankful to have recently received a truckload of Tyson® chicken, and now this large donation from MBA Brand Smart Chicken® comes just in time to distribute to families in need during this season.”

Thanks to Ozarks Food Harvest’s new cooler and freezer space — which together is nearly the same size as the entire former warehouse The Food Bank occupied, according to OFH President/CEO Bart Brown — Ozarks Food Harvest has increased the distribution of fresh produce and nutritious protein and dairy products by more than 400 percent compared to last year.

Cases donated from MBA Brand Smart Chicken® included varieties such as Organic Chicken Breast, Fresh Ground Chicken, Fresh Ground Chicken Breast, Fresh Chicken Bratwurst Sausage and Organic Tenderloins.

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About Ozarks Food Harvest—The Food Bank
Ozarks Food Harvest is the only food bank in southwest Missouri and serves more than 350 hunger relief organizations, reaching more than 55,000 people each month in 29 Ozarks counties. OFH distributed seven million pounds of food during its last fiscal year — the highest distribution in The Food Bank’s 25-year history. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org.

About Smart Chicken
Smart Chicken®, an MBA Poultry Brand, is produced by local growers from Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa.  Smart Chicken® birds are fed an all natural diet without hormones, steroids or artificial ingredients.  MBA Poultry is dedicated to producing the safest, highest quality fresh chicken found anywhere while demonstrating care for the environment.