2009 Charitable Organization of the Year Honoree: Ozarks Food Harvest

In early June, Ozarks Food Harvest's mobile food pantry visited Lebanon to help displaced workers hit by layoffs and furloughs. Of the 150 families that showed up, none had visited a food pantry before.

"What we're seeing now is more middle-class people," says Executive Director Bart Brown.

In December 2007, Ozarks Food Harvest's member agencies served 41,000 "unduplicated" people, meaning that repeat visits by the same clients aren't reflected in the data. One year later, that number had increased almost 24 percent to 53,600. Based on first-quarter numbers for 2009, that monthly number is expected to surge to about 65,000.

"It's an increase such as I've never seen before," says Brown, who's been with the food bank for 10 years.

When gas prices spiked in July 2008, food requests began soaring, Brown said. The financial meltdown and several area layoffs followed.

In response, Ozarks Food Harvest initiated a six-month crisis-response plan in fall 2008, which will be followed by a three-year strategic plan to address goals set through 2012, Brown says.

Using the mobile food pantry to reach a different pool of clients - such as those Lebanon families - is one way Ozarks Food Harvest is meeting community needs.

"I'm very excited about this new way to use the Mobile Food Pantry, because these are clients we've never had to serve before," Brown says. "To me, that's the tip of the iceberg. I can't tell you how many people are under the water."

Ozarks Food Harvest, a member of Chicago-based Feeding America, collects and stores food and distributes it to 350 member charities in a 29-county region that stretches from Springfield to Rolla to West Plains and the Missouri-Arkansas state line.

A second mobile food pantry made possible by grants from the Musgrave, Slusher and Heuer foundations means more people can be served, Brown says.

"This is a way to help bring attention to the fact people need food," said Jerry Redfern, manager for the three foundations. "Ozarks Food Harvest is just doing a marvelous job ... and there are so many people in our area that need not a handout, but a hand up."

Last November, Ozarks Food Harvest was chosen as a pilot food bank for markets of this size for the Retail Pickup Program, a partnership initiative between Feeding America and Walmart.

Using a truck made possible through a Feeding America grant, Ozarks Food Harvest picks up and distributes dated produce, dairy and meat that would otherwise end up in the landfill.

"It goes out of here literally as fast as it goes in, so there's no problem turning it around," Brown says.

Ozarks Food Harvest also continues its Weekend Backpack Program, which provides a weekend's worth of food for 1,000 children a week. That program costs $9,000 per school per year, with an annual budget of $350,000, but Brown says the program still needs to grow.

"We really need it in every county we serve," he says. "We're in 13 counties."

This summer, Ozarks Food Harvest marks a milestone with the opening of its 50,000-square-foot warehouse at 2810 N. Cedarbrook Ave., which doubles the space in its former location. The Cedarbrook site, which incorporates green elements such as high-yield, low-energy lighting and high-efficiency, vinyl-backed insulation, is designed to accommodate 20 years of growth, Brown says.[[In-content Ad]]