Media

Ozarks Food Harvest provides relief to flooded SEMO region

April 27, 2011

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— In response to severe flooding in the southeast region of the state, the southwest Missouri food bank, Ozarks Food Harvest, is stepping up to donate bottled water for victims and personal hygiene items and cleaning supplies for area rescue workers and evacuees.

An Ozarks Food Harvest truck will arrive in Poplar Bluff, Mo. at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow with 10,482 bottles of water. Ozarks Food Harvest is working with the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to bring the water to the affected area.

The Food Bank will also provide a truckload of hygiene items and cleaning supplies to its sister food bank, the Southeast Missouri Food Bank in Cape Girardeau.

Ozarks Food Harvest and the Southeast Missouri Food Bank are two of six Feeding America® member food banks in Missouri who also belong to the Missouri Food Bank Association (MFBA). MFBA coordinates statewide disaster relief efforts among the food banks in partnership with SEMA and Feeding America®.

“Water was an immediate need that had to be met as quickly as possible, and we’re happy to help,” said Bart Brown, president/CEO at Ozarks Food Harvest. “It is not as cost-effective to move water bottles great distances, which is why it makes more sense for our local food bank to jump in versus a Feeding America® national donor delivering product. The Missouri Food Bank Association members are truly subject matter experts on emergency food distribution and know how to help government response reach the underserved populations—those most vulnerable in disasters—because we do it every day.”

# # #

About Ozarks Food Harvest—The Food Bank
Ozarks Food Harvest is the Feeding America® food bank for southwest Missouri, serving more than 300 hunger relief organizations across 28 Ozarks counties. The Food Bank reaches 20,000 individuals weekly and distributes nine million pounds of food annually. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org and at facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest.