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Ozarks Food Harvest grants $250,000 to 46 area nonprofits

Ozarks Food Harvest grants $250,000 to 46 area nonprofits

June 18, 2013

Donations thanks to major gift to OFH from Missouri Foundation for Health

WHO:  Southwest Missouri’s regional food bank, Ozarks Food Harvest, is awarding 46 of its member food pantries and feeding sites with infrastructure grants totaling $250,000. A complete listing of the nonprofits providing hunger-relief and benefiting from OFH’s Strengthening Partners Investment Program can be found on page two. The funding is part of the one million dollar gift OFH received earlier this year from the Missouri Foundation for Health — one of the largest healthcare foundations in the country based in St. Louis. The Food Bank announced in March it would offer a quarter million dollars to its partner organizations via infrastructure grants, with an April 1–30 application period.

WHAT:  Ozarks Food Harvest’s infrastructure grants to its partner agencies will provide freezers, coolers or much-needed capacity-building supplies such as shelving or computers. The Food Bank will award nearly 50 area nonprofits with the grants at a press conference next week. Ozarks Food Harvest has awarded pass-through grants to its agencies before and has been recognized nationally for being a food bank that provides funding to its partners. More than 75 pantries and feeding sites requested funding, totaling nearly $560,000 — more than twice the grant funds available.

WHEN:  Tuesday, June 18 at 10:00 a.m.

WHERE:  Ozarks Food Harvest — O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief, 2810 N. Cedarbrook Ave., Springfield

WHY:  The original gift from the Missouri Foundation for Health was awarded to Ozarks Food Harvest to help expand the capacity of Missouri’s emergency food system. OFH President/CEO Bart Brown says in order to build capacity, OFH-member agencies greatly need infrastructure improvements, especially to store and distribute more fresh produce and other perishable products.

Ozarks Food Harvest will announce infrastructure grants to these nonprofits:

Barry
Cassville United Methodist Church
Helping Hands Community Food Pantry, Eagle Rock
Barton
About Our Kids, Lamar
About Our Kids – Nathan’s Place, Lamar
The Good Samaritan Shop, Lamar
Cedar
Church of Christ, El Dorado Springs
Christian
St. Joseph Catholic Church, Billings
Dade
Ozarks Area Community Action Corporation (OACAC), Greenfield
Dallas
Calvary Chapel FWB Church, Buffalo
Prairie Chapel UMC, Urbana
Greene
Ash Grove Food Pantry
Boys & Girls Club – Henderson Unit, Springfield
Center City Christian Outreach, Springfield
Clarity Recovery & Wellness (formerly Sigma House), Springfield
Crimson House Ministries, Springfield
C-Street Connect, Springfield
Isabel’s House, Springfield
People Helping People, Republic
Springfield Community Center
Victory Mission Family Ministries, Springfield
Victory Trade School, Springfield
Hickory
Hickory County Cares, Wheatland
Howell
Christos House, Willow Springs
Southwest Missouri Office on Aging (SWMOA), Mountain View
Jasper
Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Missouri, Joplin
Crosslines, Joplin
Independent Living Center, Joplin
River Street Food Pantry, Carthage
Laclede
Community Baptist Church, Lebanon
COPE, Lebanon
Crosslines, Lebanon
Lawrence
Pierce City Senior Citizens
Verona Baptist Church
Oregon
Southwest Missouri Office On Aging (SWMOA), Alton
Ozark
Ozark County Food Pantry, Gainesville
Polk
Salvation Army, Bolivar
Pulaski
Central Missouri Area Agency on Aging (CMAAA), Crocker
Central Missouri Area Agency on Aging (CMAAA) – Warren Senior Center, Richland
Good Samaritan Resource Center, Richland
St. Clair
St. Clair County Food Pantry, Osceola
Stone
Christian Associates, Kimberling City
North Stone County Food Pantry, Crane
Texas
Southwest Missouri Office on Aging (SWMOA), Houston
Texas County Food Pantry, Houston
Webster
The King’s Pantry (Southern Webster County Food Pantry), Seymour
Wright
God’s Storehouse, Hartville

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About Ozarks Food Harvest—The Food Bank
Ozarks Food Harvest is the Feeding America food bank for southwest Missouri, serving 250 nonprofit agencies across 28 Ozarks counties. The Food Bank distributes 10 million meals annually to 170,000 unduplicated individuals. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org, facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest or twitter.com/ozksfoodharvest.

About Missouri Foundation for Health
Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) is an independent philanthropic foundation dedicated to empowering Missourians to achieve equal access to quality health services. MFH provides grant funding and education, and fosters community partnerships to promote health improvement, especially for the uninsured and underserved. Since its founding in 2000, MFH has provided more than $470 million in grants and awards to organizations in 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis. Learn more at mffh.org.