According to volunteer Lynn Cline, memorizing facts and absorbing information like we do as children and students becomes more difficult as people age, but the benefit of experience is that we gain the wisdom to see how it all connects – how our choices and actions make a difference in the world.
Have you been wondering how to fit exercise, self-care and making a difference into your schedule? With volunteering you don’t have to choose; it lets you do all three!
Did you know that Ozarks Food Harvest volunteers help sort, pack and harvest more than 100,000 pounds of food each week?
April is Volunteer Appreciation Month, and we’re taking the opportunity to celebrate our volunteers for their hard work. We love showing our volunteers just how much we value them because we know their time is valuable. Efforts to feed our neighbors facing hunger would not be possible without the thousands of volunteers who give their time to sort donated food, pack Weekend Backpacks and Senior Boxes, harvest produce with Full Circle Gardens and more.
Poverty continues to be a challenge for folks who live in our community.
Wages in the Ozarks are much-lower than the national average, and in Springfield, wages are at just 60 percent compared to what people are earning nationally.
It’s heartbreaking to think about the folks in our community who face obstacles securing housing and transportation because of low-wages, causing them to take on debt just to cover the everyday costs of living.
But thankfully, we live in a community who doesn’t turn its back on our neighbors.