YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Ozarks Food Harvest is shooting for a June completion of its $4.8 million expansion after finalizing a fundraising campaign to pay for it.
President and CEO Bart Brown said Ross Construction Group LLC is general contractor for the project designed by Marshall-Waters-Woody and Associates Inc. Crews broke ground in September on the 56,000-square-foot warehouse expansion adjacent to Ozarks Food Harvest’s 46,000-square-foot distribution center at 2810 N. Cedarbrook Ave.
The Springfield nonprofit in December finished fundraising $900,000 to earn a $700,000 challenge grant from the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation. The O'Reilly family also was among supporters of the expansion fundraising campaign. Ozarks Food Harvest’s headquarters, dubbed O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief, carries the family’s name.
“This campaign has grown the philanthropic pool for our community,” said Tamara de Wild, Ozarks Food Harvest board president, in a news release. “Bringing this amount of out-of-state funds spurred some donors to make the single-largest gift or pledge they’ve ever made to a nonprofit.”
With the expanded warehouse, Ozarks Food Harvest expects to be able to double its meals donated annually to 30 million. Last year, Ozarks Food Harvest refused more than 1.4 million pounds of food due to a lack of space. The nonprofit currently works with 270 organizations in 28 Ozarks counties to serve 261,000 individuals.
Missouri State University’s science building, built in 1971 and formerly called Temple Hall, is being reconstructed and updated.
congratulations to the people of S.W. Mo. we are all blessed that so many can and will give to others. Most friends and neighbors are not aware who all they know that needed to use a food bank. Ozarks Food Harvest is a true blessing for all of us.