Ozarks Food Harvest exceeds $125K goal in annual fundraiser

Ozarks Food Harvest and Alice 95.5 this morning ended its 15th annual Hungerthon campaign, raising more than $3,000 above its goal.

During the Sept. 6-9 radio fundraiser, the groups collected $128,901, exceeding a $125,000 goal for Ozarks Food Harvest's weekend backpack program that provides weekend meals for food-insecure children, according to a news release.

The fundraiser, hosted by Alice 95.5 disc jockeys Kevin Howard and Liz Delany, raised enough to provide the backpack program to 430 at-risk children across the Ozarks. The program provides some 50,000 backpacks annually to 42 southwest Missouri schools. The packs include two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, two snacks and drinks.

The 2013 Hungerthon beat last year's total of $125,968. Since 1999, the event has raised more than $1 million, according to the release.

Ozarks Food Harvest will continue to accept donations during the rest of the week.