Central Community UMC Food Pantry is committed to serving neighbors facing hunger in Barry County. Oleta Swolley, Director of Operations at the food pantry says, “The most important thing any distribution center should keep in mind is that when you’re helping people, you need to love what you’re doing and love caring about other people.”
April 25-29 is Volunteer Appreciation Week! Our volunteers mean the world to us, and they have helped us make meals happen for thousands of our neighbors facing hunger.
Did you know that monthly donors are critical to The Food Bank? While every donation makes a difference, monthly giving through our Harvest Circle program provides a steady source of funds that allows The Food Bank to plan ahead and respond to needs.
As the only food bank serving southwest Missouri, it is our job to provide not only food to our network of 270 hunger-relief organizations, but opportunities for support as well.
With inflation at a 50-year high, conserving resources and stretching our dollars as far as possible is more important than ever. This is nothing new to The Food Bank, but it serves as a good reminder of the many issues that the organization addresses in addition to feeding neighbors facing hunger.
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the economic landscape of the Joplin area. As many communities have experienced, the retail and hospitality industries have been heavily impacted. In a city that thrives on businesses like these, local hunger-relief partner St. Peter’s Outreach House has had to adapt.
At Cronkhite Homes, contributing to the community is a central value. In addition to building quality homes, owner Mike Cronkhite and his team make the time build up their neighbors.
Some good ideas begin with a plan, and some are stumbled upon. Kathy and Keith Miller know this all too well. Their journey to founding The Fifteen Percent, a feeding site that provides hot meals to neighbors facing hunger in Liberal, Mo., started with one small act of kindness.
Margaret Beem loves weaving. Using hand spinning techniques, she carefully transforms her selected yarns into beautifully designed fabrics. Like the importance of each thread in the weaving process, Margaret has woven herself into an important part of the Ozarks Food Harvest hunger-relief network: Volunteering.
During the Month of March, Scouts are going door-to-door to collect nonperishable food for Ozarks Food Harvest during Scouting for Food.