Hello from the O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief!
Summertime is upon us. Children are enjoying long days spent playing baseball with their friends or swimming in the neighborhood pool. During this sunny, fun-filled season, parents try to keep their pantries and refrigerators stocked with extra meals and snacks for hungry kids.
Hundreds of family relatives—particularly grandparents—become parents the second time around when their children experience difficulties and grandchildren need care. These “grandfamilies” must adapt to an entirely new lifestyle—which includes figuring out how to provide food for a child.
As members of Feeding America, every food bank in the country is required to undergo a comprehensive audit every two to four years. It was Ozarks Food Harvest’s turn this spring. The process is designed to ensure we are checking all the boxes in our contract with Feeding America, and it helps us learn about how we can improve. It also gives us a chance to share our company culture and passion.
When Charley and Trudy Bowen moved to Springfield from Dixon to live closer to their three daughters, they knew they wanted to start volunteering somewhere right away. Since the couple had donated to Ozarks Food Harvest in the past, they decided to try volunteering.
Twelve-year-old Samantha knows what it’s like to be hungry.
The community joined together in a big way for Taste of SoMo on Saturday. Thank you so much to everyone who visited us at our tents, donated tickets and funds and picked up some fun merch! Heartfelt thanks to Downtown Springfield for making us a beneficiary for the event. We can’t wait to share the total meal count with you!
We’re still tallying totals, but so far, Taste of SoMo has helped provide 4,212 meals! Stay tuned for a meal count update.
Donations to The Food Bank tend to dip in the summer months. With school out of session, family vacations and other summer activities, donating isn’t always top of mind. But for food insecure families, summer can be the hungriest time of the year. That’s where Arvest Bank’s Million Meals campaign comes in.
Bryiar Callaway is an honor roll student, sings in the choir and dances competitively. She also has an ambitious goal: to make hunger history.
Thank you so much to everyone who donated to the Fight Hunger Faster Match Challenge! With your help, we were able to raise $10,000 to provide 80,000 meals for families facing hunger in the Ozarks.
For the past 38 years, Crosslines in Lebanon has helped put meals on the table for thousands of people in Laclede County.