Ozarks Health Advocacy Foundation Awards $7,500 to Mobile Food Pantry
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Ozarks Health Advocacy Foundation (OHAF) awarded $7,500 to Ozarks Food Harvest at a press conference held today at The Food Bank’s new facility at 2810 N. Cedarbrook. The foundation also announced its other spring grant cycle recipients and presented grant awards to area organizations.
“With continued support from the Ozarks Health Advocacy Foundation, we are able to provide those in need in our community with our direct service programs such as the Mobile Food Pantry™,” said Denise Gibson, The Food Bank’s director of development. “We are very appreciative of the foundation’s positive impact on hunger across the Ozarks.”
The $7,500 grant from OHAF will help fund The Food Bank’s Mobile Food Pantry™ program, which delivers needed food and supplies to rural communities that are either not serviced by a hunger relief agency or are seeing drastic increases in the number of requests for food assistance.
Last year, Ozarks Food Harvest was serving approximately 45,000 individuals each month in its 29 county service area, and today that number has risen to more than 53,000 unduplicated children, adults, seniors and working poor. According to Ozarks Food Harvest, economic indicators suggest the number of those seeking assistance from pantries will rise to 65,000 by the end of 2009.
OHAF (formerly known as the Visiting Nurse Association Foundation) is a charitable foundation dedicated to the support of critical physical, mental and dental health needs in the Ozarks. Through financial grants to charitable organizations that address these critical health needs in southwest Missouri, OHAF is working to improve life in the Ozarks.
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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. Recently, Ozarks Food Harvest has doubled its distribution to upwards of seven million pounds of food annually, the highest distribution in The Food Bank’s 25-year history. This is possible because of its network of charities and direct-relief programs such as Kids Cafe®, the Weekend Backpack Program™, Club F.U.N.™ and the Mobile Food Pantry™.