Arvest Bank collected nonperishable food items and monetary gifts for Ozarks Food Harvest during its fourth annual bank-wide 1 Million Meals campaign during September and November.
Banks in the Springfield and Nixa area collected 1,434 pounds of food and $4,484, while the Joplin-area banks donated 1,825 pounds and $8,565. This adds up to more than 68,000 meals.
Thirty-nine schools and 24 community partners battled in Ozarks Food Harvest’s fourth-annual school food drive competition, Food Fight, collecting 39,450 pounds of donations, or 32,875 meals — the most ever raised for this food drive.
The largest Thanksgiving Day 5K in Missouri continues to be one of the largest annual food drives for Ozarks Food Harvest.
Ozarks Food Harvest partnered with Panera Bread and local artists to raise $1,500 at last month’s Empty Bowls event.
This was the first time since 2003 OFH hosted the event, which offered a basic meal of soup and bread from Panera in exchange for cash donations.
The seventh annual McDonald’s Cans for Coffee drive collected 45,000 pounds of food — the most ever raised by McDonald’s of the Ozarks. The food drive hadn’t brought in more than 36,000 pounds since 2011, and it surpassed this year’s goal of 30,000 pounds, the equivalent of 25,000 meals.