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SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— For the fifth straight year, one of the largest privately supported philanthropic organizations addressing hunger in America is helping Ozarks Food Harvest fight hunger in southwest Missouri. MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger continues to help fund hunger relief efforts in the Ozarks by awarding The Food Bank with a $7,000 grant.

According to Denise Gibson, development director at Ozarks Food Harvest, the donation will help offset general operating expenses associated with food distribution, as The Food Bank has doubled its distribution to upwards of seven million pounds of food annually, the highest distribution in Ozarks Food Harvest’s 25-year history.

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger is the only American Jewish organization whose sole focus is combating hunger. MAZON (Hebrew for “food”) is dedicated to inspiring, educating and mobilizing American Jews in support of ending hunger wherever it exists, strengthening the impact of domestic and international hunger relief programs through grant making and advocating for public policy that values and promotes self-reliance. Since its founding in 1986, MAZON has awarded grants totaling more than $50 million to emergency feeding programs, food banks, anti-hunger advocacy groups, multi-service organizations offering food, shelter and counseling and small-scale hunger relief and development projects in Israel and poor countries.

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About Ozarks Food Harvest—The Food Bank
Ozarks Food Harvest works with more than 350 hunger relief organizations, reaching more than 53,000 people each month in 29 southwest Missouri counties. The Food Bank also offers direct-relief programs such as Kids Cafe®, the Weekend Backpack Program™, Club F.U.N.™ and the Mobile Food Pantry™.