Darrs backing CCO campaign

A new fundraising campaign by nonprofit Council of Churches of the Ozarks Inc. has backing from Bill and Virginia Darr.

The Darrs have agreed to match up to $50,000 in donations made to CCO's Ambassadors for Children #IAmMe Campaign this month, according to a news release.

The campaign is designed to provide clothes and health and hygiene items for youth in foster care in Greene County.

"For some of our guests, shopping in our boutique is the first time in their lives they’ve ever had the opportunity to choose for themselves. It’s the first time they’ve ever had clothing in their size, with tags still attached," said Jaimie Trussell, the nonprofit’s CEO, in the release. "The message these children and youth receive is they are worth our communities’ investment in their lives."

Businessperson Bill Darr built pet food ingredient providers American Dehydrated Foods and International Dehydrated Foods before selling in 2019 to Germany-based Symrise AG for $900 million, according to past reporting.

CCO cut the ribbon in March on its new headquarters at 3055 E. Division St. The roughly $8 million project consolidated all of the nonprofit's services into one building, Springfield Business Journal previously reported.