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Did you know that Ozarks Food Harvest volunteers help sort, pack and harvest more than 100,000 pounds of food each week?

Bart tells me that’s just one small piece of what the nearly 3,700 volunteers that visit The Food Bank each year do for our community in southwest Missouri. Volunteers are key to Ozarks Food Harvest’s mission to Transform Hunger into Hope because they’re its biggest champions in raising awareness about hunger, ensuring food reaches families in need and making the most out of every dollar donated.

Volunteers help spread awareness about hunger because The Food Bank treats the volunteer experience with respect and care. They host three-hour sessions with a break and ensure every volunteer knows exactly where they need to be, what they’re doing, and how many meals they’re helping give to their community. This is important because each time a volunteer tells a friend about their positive experience with The Food Bank, wears an Ozarks Food Harvest T-shirt or posts a photo on social media, they’re helping shine a spotlight on hunger.

From a distribution perspective, each volunteer helps provide more than 300 meals on average during a single sort and pack session in The Food Bank’s warehouse. They also help harvest produce with Ozarks Food Harvest’s Full Circle Gardens to ensure families have access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Many even help with the next step by giving out food at local pantries and Mobile Food Pantries that they helped sort!

Volunteerism is vital as well to helping Ozarks Food Harvest stretch every dollar donated as far as it can go. Without volunteers, The Food Bank would need to hire 15 full-time employees to ensure food was sorted and packed to match the incredible demand the community is experiencing. By harnessing the power of volunteerism, they redirect these potential costs towards providing more meals for children, families and seniors facing hunger.

I think Lauren Pyle, a longtime volunteer at Ozarks Food Harvest, captures why volunteers are so important with her comment. “You never know who hunger is affecting. It could be your neighbor, classmate or someone at work. Ozarks Food Harvest has a lot of working parts, and that’s why volunteers are so essential…so they can go out and feed people.”

I’d like to personally thank all of Ozarks Food Harvest’s volunteers for their commitment to helping end hunger in the Ozarks. Your gift of time is invaluable, and I truly appreciate you.

For those who have yet to volunteer with The Food Bank, I encourage you to apply and schedule a session online at ozarksfoodharvest.org/volunteer. Even a small sacrifice of three hours a month can yield a lifetime of difference for people worrying about how they’ll be able to put dinner on the table tonight.