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Student “Food Fight” breaks record

Student “Food Fight” breaks record

November 5, 2014

Ozarks Food Harvest’s 4th annual Food Fight food drive collects more than the first three year’s combined, thanks to more schools — and businesses —  participating

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Thirty-nine schools and 24 businesses and community partners battled in Ozarks Food Harvest’s fourth annual school food drive competition, “Food Fight,” collecting 39,450 pounds of food, or 32,875 meals — the most ever raised during a non-disaster relief food drive.

This year the food collected was sent directly to Ozarks Food Harvest’s partner food pantries in Greene County, including C-Street Connect Food Pantry, Central Assembly Food Pantry, Crosslines, Hand Extended Outreach, Salvation Army, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Victory Mission and Well of Life, as well as school food pantries at Central High School, Hillcrest High School, Kickapoo High School and Study Alternative Center.

The Food Fight Champion in the middle school category is again Cherokee Middle School, bringing in 7,006 pounds, or 9.23 pounds collected per student. Kickapoo High School is the Food Fight Champion among all participating high schools, collecting 1,744 pounds of food, or one pound per student. These schools will be awarded traveling trophies.

The five elementary schools with classes winning all-expenses paid field trips to Ozarks Food Harvest to see first-hand how food donations are processed are Pershing K-8 School–Elementary, Pleasant View K-8 School–Elementary, Sherwood Elementary School, Weller Elementary School and Wilson’s Creek Intermediate School.

In its first three years, Food Fight collected more than 18,500 pounds, or more than 15,000 meals. This was the first year Food Fight allowed Partners in Education to serve as collection points for schools in their neighborhoods. Examples included four Little Caesar’s locations together collecting nearly 8,000 pounds; Shining Stars Early Childhood Center, collecting more than 700 pounds; and the Cox Pharmacy Department, collecting 600 pounds of food.

All participating schools and partners — and the amount of food they collected — can be found at www.ozarksfoodharvest.org/foodfight.html.

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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 12.5 million meals—or more than 15 million pounds—annually to more than 260,000 unduplicated individuals. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org, facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest or twitter.com/ozksfoodharvest.