A greeting from Charlie O’Reilly
Happy Holidays from the O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief!
Each holiday season, I enjoy taking time to reflect on the accomplishments and challenges of the year and thinking about the opportunities that lie ahead.
This #Giving Tuesday, Ozarks Food Harvest asked the community to give back to families facing hunger in southwest Missouri.
Sibyl James spends her Tuesday evenings packing Weekend Backpacks and Senior Food boxes for local families struggling with hunger.
Ozarks Food Harvest is incredibly thankful to partner with Lucky’s Market. Support The Food Bank by shopping at Lucky’s this holiday season!
Help support hunger relief at local grocery stores this holiday season through Check Out Hunger.
Throughout November, blood donors can help give life in southwest Missouri through the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks.
At Ozarks Food Harvest, we are always looking for opportunities to support our 270 member agencies. This network includes a variety of food pantries, shelters, senior centers and schools across southwest Missouri.
Many of these agencies are completely run by volunteers, and support from Ozarks Food Harvest is essential as they work hard
to provide food for those in need. A variety of generous grants allow us to equip our partners with the tools they need to provide meals for their hungry neighbors. With food insecurity remaining high in the Ozarks, the ability for agencies to distribute more food is critical.
Hunger Action Month is one of my favorite times of year at Ozarks Food Harvest. September is filled with community partnerships, food and fund drives and exciting events, all benefiting The Food Bank.
We were extremely blessed to partner with a variety of local businesses this year. Bambinos, The Coffee Ethic, Crave Cookie Dough, Farm 2 Counter, MaMa Jean’s and Neighbor’s Mill all donated proceeds from specific items to Ozarks Food Harvest.
Greetings from the O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief!
As I’m writing this, Congress is currently ironing out the final details of the upcoming Farm Bill to be voted on by the House and the Senate.
For those who don’t know, the Farm Bill is the major food and farm legislation revisited by Congress every five years. The bill is vital to Ozarks Food Harvest because of how it influences federal nutrition program funding. Programs utilized at The Food Bank such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps) and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP or Senior Food box program) are all affected by this important piece of legislation.
Week in and week out, dozens of volunteers arrive at The Food Bank for their regularly-scheduled shifts. In August, two of these dedicated volunteers surpassed 1,000 hours of service with Ozarks Food Harvest.