Media

The Food Bank rescues more than six million pounds of food from area retailers

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Dan Bohannon recently joined the team at Ozarks Food Harvest as the store donation coordinator for The Food Bank’s Retail Pick-up Program.

“The Retail Pick-up Program is instrumental in increasing the amount of healthy food Ozarks Food Harvest provides to its partner organizations,” Bohannon said. “The effort is also environmentally-conscious, because we are reducing waste and supporting those in need.”

This program, established in 2008, is now being supported by a grant from the Walmart Foundation, making it possible for OFH to hire a program coordinator. Walmart has been instrumental in the program, even choosing OFH as the first food bank in the country to participate during pilot stages more than five years ago. The success led to the establishment of Walmart’s partnership with food banks across the country.

Bohannon, who has volunteered more than 100 hours at OFH, comes with 25 years of experience working for Kraft Foods — with positions such as headquarters merchandising supervisor and customer retail manager under his belt. Prior to his time at Kraft, he managed an MFA Co-op, and later a Ramey store for several years.

Last year, OFH rescued 6.5 million pounds of food — including produce, meat, dairy and other perishables — from 58 area retailers. This accounted for roughly 40 percent of The Food Bank’s total annual distribution, and increased by more than 160 percent within one year.

Next year, OFH plans to distribute more than seven million pounds from the Retail Pick-up Program, sourced from roughly 70 local retailers. This would account for nearly half of The Food Bank’s total distribution.

Southwest Missouri stores who partner with OFH to donate food include Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market, SAM’s Club, Dillons, Hy-Vee, Target, Woods Supermarket, Murfin’s Market, Pennington’s Supermarket and Price Chopper.

# # #

About Ozarks Food Harvest   The Food Bank
Ozarks Food Harvest is the Feeding America food bank for southwest Missouri, serving 200 organizations across 28 Ozarks counties. The Food Bank distributes more than 12 million meals annually to 170,000 unduplicated individuals. OFH celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2013 and received its second consecutive Four-Star Charity Navigator rating the same year. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org, facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest or twitter.com/ozksfoodharvest.