Ozarks Food Harvest and iHeartRadio Springfield’s 25th annual Hungerthon wrapped up this afternoon, collecting $252,900 for The Food Bank’s Weekend Backpack Program. Community members and businesses came together for this four-day event to provide 703 kids facing hunger with nutritious meals every weekend of the school year.
Ozarks Food Harvest and iHeartRadio Springfield will kick off the 25th annual Hungerthon radio-thon Friday morning with the goal of raising $250,000 to sponsor 700 children for The Food Bank’s Weekend Backpack Program. This program provides more than 1,700 local children with six nutritious meals each weekend throughout the school year.
Volunteers at the Oregon County Food Pantry in Alton have been diligently supporting their community for 18 years. For much of that time, they distributed food from a borrowed church building, but as their service grew, so did their needs. Now, the pantry’s generosity has come full circle as they serve their neighbors from a new location – which they own!
Ozarks Food Harvest provided 20 million meals in the past year through its network of faith-based and community charities across a third of the state of Missouri.
Graddy Real Estate has a team of employees with a heart for helping people. Their team is able to help people every single day by connecting individuals to homes, but that’s not the only way they’re leaving a lasting impact on the community.
Ozarks Food Harvest is experiencing a higher demand for food assistance than during the height of the pandemic. In the past six months, we’ve served an average 60,000 individuals each month; 10,000 more than during the same period in 2020 and 2021. As many working families struggle to get back on their feet, they’ve encountered a perfect storm of increased childcare costs, high housing prices and rising food expenses.
When the school bell rings on Friday afternoon, one in seven children in southwest Missouri are not looking forward to a break – they’re dreading a weekend without food. Through the Weekend Backpack Program, children can rest assured that they will have meals to last the weekend.
Did you know the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) partners with, and depends on, Ozarks Food Harvest to be the largest food supplier to our neighbors facing hunger in southwest Missouri? Its long and trusted partnership with the USDA has made a huge impact on the number of nutritious meals provided through its network of 270 community and faith-based charities. That dramatic impact is what makes this year’s Farm Bill so important for families served by Ozarks Food Harvest.
Of the people served by Ozarks Food Harvest’s hunger-relief network, one-third live in a household with children. So many of these children rely on nutritious school meals that help them learn, grow, and play, but what happens when school lets out for the summer?
Substance abuse and addiction affects every part of a person’s life, from relationships, to finances, and even poor nutrition. It’s a tough cycle to break alone. When men are ready to seek help, Adult & Teen Challenge of the Four States in Neosho is there to offer support and education for men to recover and maintain a healthier lifestyle.