Prime Inc. held its annual Chili Cook-Off and silent auction supporting Ozarks Food Harvest in February.
The 2015 Chili Cook-Off raised $6,000 for those in need, but this year the local trucking company wanted to go beyond that total and help feed even more people in the community.
Ozarks Food Harvest is encouraging churches, schools, businesses or any interested group to participate in the second annual community Fish Drive during Lent, Feb. 10 to March 24.
In 2015, the idea was implemented to ask the community to go fishing for its neighbors in need throughout the Lent season by collecting canned and pouched fish for Ozarks Food Harvest.
SGC Foodservice delivered a truckload of food to Ozarks Food Harvest, thanks to donations provided by its employees, customers and vendors during the Fill the Truck fundraiser.
Proceeds from the fundraiser were used to purchase child-friendly and shelf-stable food items including cereal, fruit juices and easy-open cans of vegetable soup to support The Food Bank’s Weekend Backpack Program.
The eighth annual McDonald’s Cans for Coffee food drive collected nearly 20,000 pounds of food for Ozarks Food Harvest.
“Cans for Coffee is not only important to helping provide food to hungry Missourians, but it also draws awareness to the complex issue of hunger in our community,” shared Denise Gibson, OFH development and communication director.
Twenty-eight Springfield Public Schools and 16 businesses and community partners battled in Ozarks Food Harvest’s fifth annual Food Fight competition, collecting over 36,000 pounds of donations which will provide more than 30,000 meals to hungry children, families and seniors this holiday season.
This year, the food and funds collected were sent directly to Ozarks Food Harvest’s partner food pantries in Greene County, including four SPS school pantries.
Springfield Public Schools will participate in Ozarks Food Harvest’s 5th annual district-wide Food Fight competition October 12-31, with a goal of 45,000 pounds to beat last year’s total of 39,450 pounds of donations.
Food Fight is a food and fund drive competition among Springfield Public Schools with Partners in Education. The mission of the Food Fight competition is to raise hunger awareness across the district and stock community and school pantry shelves for the holiday season.
The second annual Empty Bowls to benefit Ozarks Food Harvest raised over $5,000 to provide 25,000 meals to hungry children, families and seniors in southwest Missouri!
The regional food bank partnered with Panera Bread to offer a bowl handcrafted by a local artist, as well as soup and bread, in exchange for cash donations.
Annual radio-thon helps support 416 children on the Backpack Program
Ozarks Food Harvest and iHeartMedia’s 17th annual radio-thon, Hungerthon, raised $125,380 to support 416 children on the Weekend Backpack Program. The program provides hungry children with nutritious, child-friendly food items to take home over the weekends.
Kevin Howard and Liz Delany of 105.9 KGBX hosted the four day radio-thon. Since 1999, nearly $1.5 million has been raised through Hungerthon. This year, Hungerthon moved from Alice 95.5 to 105.9 KGBX.
Over 500 hours of service was donated to Ozarks Food Harvest by 325 volunteers, providing 55,000 meals to children, families and seniors in need during the 23rd Annual United Way Day of Caring.
Over 20,000 pounds of food was sorted in The Food Bank’s Volunteer Center, 1,442 Senior Food boxes were assembled, almost 2,000 pounds of food and $1,103 was collected during food drives, 77 pounds of produce was gleaned from Ozarks Food Harvest’s garden and area children wrote 632 notes of encouragement to fellow students who receive weekend food bags.
This year during Feeding America’s Hunger Action Month, Ozarks Food Harvest will celebrate by holding events throughout the month of September to raise awareness of hunger issues in the Ozarks. Locally, one in six adults and one in four children are food insecure, which means they may not know where their next meal is coming from. More than 260,000 people in southwest Missouri receive food from The Food Bank every year.
Hunger Action Month is a nationwide campaign throughout September designed to mobilize the public to take action on the issue of hunger and join the movement to help end hunger for the 49 million Americans who struggle.
Check out the 30 ways in 30 days calendar below to find out all the amazing ways you can help fight hunger this September!