Media

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Ozarks Food Harvest has met the challenges of a slow economy with record distribution numbers.

Since November, The Food Bank has been shipping out an average of 650,000 pounds each month.  Twice, the number topped more than 700,000 pounds.

This jump is in contrast to the same time last year, when Ozarks Food Harvest was shipping out about 400,000 pounds each month.

Behind the increase are partnerships with Walmart, Kroger, Target and Associated Wholesale Grocers.  The Food Bank had been working with these organizations before, but it wasn’t until the end of 2008 that the stores chose Ozarks Food Harvest as a test site for donation pilot programs.

These partnerships led to a drastic increase in donations to The Food Bank, which allowed Ozarks Food Harvest to meet the increase in need across the Ozarks.

And, the bump in donations couldn’t have come at a more critical time.  During the last four months, network agencies in The Food Bank’s 29 county service area are reporting more than a 40 percent spike in requests for assistance.  And, since January of this year, The Food Bank is assisting more than 53,000 people through its network.

Also, Ozarks Food Harvest has worked hard to ensure people all across its network have access to the food they need.  More than 50 distribution points have been added to The Food Bank’s delivery schedule in the past year.

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About Ozarks Food Harvest—The Food Bank
Ozarks Food Harvest works with more than 350 hunger relief organizations, reaching upwards of 53,000 people each month in 29 southwest Missouri counties. Ozarks Food Harvest distributes more than 5 million pounds of food annually to its network of agencies and offers direct relief through its Kids Cafe®, Food for Thought™, Club F.U.N.™ and Mobile Food Pantry™ programs.