Nearly 50 area food pantries and hunger-relief programs yesterday received $250,000 in grants from Ozarks Food Harvest during a news conference at the O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief.
The grants, which range between $1,300 and $10,000, are earmarked to fund infrastructure purchases of industrial-size freezers, coolers, shelving and other supplies to help expand Missouri’s emergency food system capacity. Among the 46 charities assisted across 21 southwest Missouri counties, a cooler and freezer valued at $7,300 went to the Ash Grove Food Pantry and $1,300 in metal shelving and cabinets went to the Springfield Community Center.
“Strengthening our 250 partner agencies to serve more hungry Missouri families is part of our three-year strategic plan, and doing so means Ozarks Food Harvest will grant more than $200,000 in funding annually to our food pantries and programs,” said Bart Brown, the regional food bank’s president and CEO, in a news release. “These infrastructure grants will help improve pantries and feeding sites across the Ozarks so that they can store and distribute more fresh produce and perishable product.”
Under the Strengthening Partners program, Ozarks Food Harvest’s infrastructure awards are funded by a $1 million gift received earlier this year from St. Louis-based Missouri Foundation for Health. In this round of grants, the food bank received funding requests from roughly 75 pantries and feeding sites seeking nearly $560,000 – more than twice the grant funds available.
Ozarks Food Harvest officials say the food bank distributes 10 million meals annually to 170,000 unduplicated individuals.
Infrastructure grant awards in the Springfield metropolitan statistical area through Ozarks Food Harvest’s Strengthening Partners program, by county:
Christian
- St. Joseph Catholic Church, Billings – freezer, valued at $4,700
Dallas
- Calvary Chapel Freewill Baptist Church, Buffalo – two freezers and metal shelves, computer/charity tracker, valued at $7,835
- Prairie Chapel United Methodist Church, Urbana – cooler and freezer, valued at $7,300
Greene
- Ash Grove Food Pantry – cooler and freezer, valued at $7,300
- Boys and Girls Club-Henderson Unit – freezer and storage cabinets, valued at $4,970
- Center City Christian Outreach – two coolers, valued at $3,600
- Clarity Recovery and Wellness – freezer, valued at $3,300
- Crimson House Ministries – oven, cooler, freezer and two metal shelves, valued at $9,225
- C-Street Connect – ramp, freezer, cabinet, two metal shelves and computer valued at $6,140
- Isabel's House – cooler, valued at $2,600
- People Helping People, Republic – cooler and freezer, valued at $5,900
- Springfield Community Center – two metal shelves and two cabinets, valued at $1,314
- Victory Mission Family Ministries – freezer, valued at $3,000
- Victory Trade School – cooler and freezer, valued at $5,900
Polk
- Salvation Army, Bolivar – cooler, valued at $4,000
Webster
- The King’s Pantry (Southern Webster County Food Pantry), Seymour – cooler, valued at $4,000
Click here to view the full list.
