Creative ways to help end hunger

(This is a guest post from Meredith Kimelblatt on behalf of ConAgra Foods, Inc.)

There’s no question about it: hunger is a major issue. In every country throughout the world, people struggle with problems like not having enough food to eat at home and in schools, not being able to feed growing families and not having the resources to get the help they need.

When hunger doesn’t directly affect you or someone close to you it can be easy to imagine the issue of hunger on a larger, worldwide scale; you know that it’s there and that it’s a problem, but you may think that nothing you can do will really put a dent in the problem. Hunger happens everywhere, however, and while worldwide hunger is obviously an enormous issue, hunger in America alone is a major issue in itself.

Looking just at child hunger in America narrows the issue even more drastically and puts it into a more alarming perspective. According to ConAgra Foods, more than 1 in 5 children in the United States live in households that don’t have consistent access to food throughout the year, a number that adds up to more than 16.7 million children across the country. Approximately 15.7 million US children lived below the poverty line in 2010, making it likely that their families struggle with providing them with adequate amounts of food, nutritious food or both.

With mind-bogglingly large numbers like that, it’s easier to imagine how efforts to end hunger could really truly make a difference, since its reach is so extreme. So how can you get involved in helping to make these numbers a little smaller? The following are simple, creative ways to help end child and adult hunger in your community:

• Help out at your local food bank

Food banks like Ozarks Food Harvest always appreciate food donations; canned goods and other-nonperishable items like rice and pasta make excellent donations and will certainly be much-appreciated by anyone visiting a food pantry.

• Organize a food drive

If you want to donate on a larger scale, try organizing a food drive at your school or office. Most people have canned foods lying around in their cupboards that they will be more than happy to donate and you can obtain large quantities of food at once. Turn the drive into a game or contest to get more donations!

• Community gardens

Planting a community garden is an excellent way to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to families who can’t afford to buy their own. Since fresh produce can get pricey, many families struggling with hunger are forced to pass it over in favor of cheaper, possibly less nutritious options, so a community garden can help instill
nutritious eating habits, too.

• Raise awareness of hunger organizations

If you hear about an organization or opportunity to get involved in an activity that can help end hunger, spread the word! Chances are, many people you know would love to get involved in the same cause. Raising awareness about just how significant the problem of hunger is can also help motivate people to get involved.

• Clip coupons

For families struggling with their grocery budgets, clipping coupons is an easy way for people to save some money at the supermarket. It’s an easy task that won’t take up a lot of your time, but coupons can be a lifesaver for families working to make ends meet.

• Lobby for change

If you notice that a school or other center in your community is not providing sufficient food to the people it serves, or lacks the funds to do so, take up the issue with the center or with your local politician. Problems can only be solved if people are aware of them, so be sure to raise awareness.

How else can you think to help end the issue of hunger? Share your ideas below!

This is a guest post by Meredith K. on behalf of ConAgra Foods, Inc. For more information on ending child hunger in America and the ConAgra Foods Foundation, visit www.conagrafoods.com. 

OFH member pantry gives time at The Food Bank, processes record amount of food

A regular volunteer group at The Food Bank, who also happen to operate a food pantry affiliated with Ozarks Food Harvest, recently set a sorting record of 18,000 pounds of food during a single volunteer session! That’s enough to provide 15,000 meals to those in need in the Ozarks.

Prairie Chapel volunteers receive food in the sorting room
and process it for distribution to 250 nonprofit organizations. 

Lead volunteer, Jim Brown, helped establish the food pantry at his church, Prairie Chapel United Methodist, in Urbana, Mo. in 2002. He says there was a need to provide hunger relief for the now 140 families they serve monthly.

Brown, at left, inspects food donations in the OFH Volunteer Center

The 77-year-old retired farmer not only picks up 2,300 pounds of food from Ozarks Food Harvest monthly, he also coordinates church volunteers to serve time at The Food Bank, helping process donations for other food pantries in the region.

“I do it because they [Ozarks Food Harvest] help us,” Brown says. “They’re helping us by helping others.”

Brown dodged having his picture taken during the group’s last volunteer session. He asked that all of the volunteers be included in a picture together. “Don’t take a picture of just me,” he said, “I can’t do any of this without everyone.”

Prairie Chapel United Methodist Church volunteers take a break
while serving at the O'Reilly Center for Hunger Relief

Though Prairie Chapel United Methodist Church volunteers are humble about their new sorting record at OFH, they’ve already set a goal to process even more during their next visit to OFH—20,000 pounds!

Become a volunteer at ozarksfoodharvest.org/volunteer, and see a listing of local pantries and organizations your efforts will help support at ozarksfoodharvest.org/directory.html.

Cherokee Middle School takes food drive one step further

Cherokee Middle School students have hosted food and fund drives for families in need for the past several years. And recently, the reigning OFH Food Fight* champions collected more than 3,000 pounds of food for Ozarks Food Harvest’s network of pantries.

The CMS art students even turned the food donations into an art project this year. Pictured is the "TiCANic." 

This winter, Honor Society students decided to stretch Cherokee’s giving by donating more than 80 hours of time (within the past three months). The students helped sort 8,400 meals to be distributed among 250 nonprofit organizations. The students worked three-hour shifts after school or during their holiday vacation.

“Students get to choose where they want to volunteer, but this group has taken an interest in Ozarks Food Harvest due to the impact they are making in the community,” said Pam Vokolek, who helps coordinate CMS volunteers. “The students like Ozarks Food Harvest because they are helping families in need and specifically, they are helping other Springfield Public Schools students who are hungry and in need of food.” 

Cherokee students volunteer to pack food boxes for low-income seniors in need. 

“I like volunteering at Ozarks Food Harvest,” a CMS student told OFH. “I’m moving around and sorting different things. The time goes by really fast. ”

*Food Fight is an OFH food drive competition among local area schools. The school collecting the most pounds of food per student is named Champion and receives the Food Fight traveling trophy currently housed at Cherokee Middle School. This April, Ozarks Food Harvest is challenging Springfield’s elementary, middle and high schools to the 2013 Food Fight.

To learn more about Food Fight, contact Sara McClendon at (417) 865-3411. If you already participate in food drives benefiting OFH, please consider volunteering your time to deliver the collected food or help sort the food during a volunteer shift.

Happy Holidays from OFH

Tyson employees in Monett help feed local kids

A growing number of children in the Monett area depend on the school lunch program for the majority of their meals. The problem is they often don’t have enough food at home to keep them from going hungry over the weekend.

With The Food Bank’s Weekend Backpack Program, those children are given enough food items for the weekend with items such as milk, cereal, tuna, fruit and vegetables.

Thankfully, Tyson Foods recently stepped up to help the program in Monett by delivering a truckload of protein to its plant there so that local employees could purchase items right off the truck. With the help of Tyson employees, nearly $1,500 was raised for the Weekend Backpack students. The donation will ensure that five children of the Ozarks will be fed every weekend of the entire school year!

Travis Scarrow, plant manager of the Monett, Mo. Tyson plant,
presents a check to Gordon Day, food resource manager at Ozarks Food Harvest. 

Gordon gives a big “thank you” to Tyson and those in Monett who supported the truckload sale. This is another example of how our friends at Tyson “kNOw Hunger” and work together to end it.

You can help OFH’s Backpack Program too. Learn more here. 

Miss Missouri Junior Pre-Teen “Cover Girl” gives gift of time

Ten-year-old Bailey Shaw is not only a national beauty pageant contestant, but she’s also a proud supporter of her local food bank, Ozarks Food Harvest.

As part of her service project for the Miss National Pre-Teen Pageant, Bailey decided to volunteer at The Food Bank. Although Bailey’s younger than the minimum age allowed to sort and re-pack food donations in the Volunteer Center, she still donated more than nine hours of her time to help serve those in need.   

She started by getting food drive boxes from Ozarks Food Harvest for a collection in her neighborhood. In addition to gathering more than 100 pounds of food, Bailey also hosted a Hygiene Kit drive for the Weekend Backpack Program. She gathered 20 hygiene items for kits, plus she created nearly 70 “Hope Notes,” or notes of encouragement for the kids who receive the food bags.

After her service project, Miss Missouri Junior Pre-Teen “Cover Girl” Bailey represented Missouri in Anaheim, California at the National Junior Pre-Teen Pageant.

Here are some ideas for hosting your own food drive:

• Ask your Sunday School class to host a “Souper Bowl” food drive
• Bring canned soups and stews to class on Super Bowl Sunday
• Organize donations of canned fruit for a “Fruity Friday”
• Hold a contest to see which class can collect the most food

Do you have a creative food drive idea? Share it with our food drive coordinator at smcclendon@ozarksfoodharvest.org.

For those under age 14, who still want to help hungry Ozarks families, hosting a food drive is the best way to volunteer. Find out more about how to host your own food drive at ozarksfoodharvest.org/fooddrive.html. 

United Way volunteers give back to OFH on 20th annual Day of Caring

In just one day, nearly 100 volunteers gave their time to Ozarks Food Harvest last week for the United Way Day of Caring, providing more than 14,310 meals for our neighbors struggling with food insecurity! 

I was thrilled to see our Volunteer Center bustling with community members, especially during a weekday. Volunteers from AECI, Bank of America, the City of Springfield and City Utilities sorted more than 4,780 lbs. of canned food items and assembled 912 Hygiene Kits for Backpack kids. 

In just a few hours, City Utilities' volunteers were able to pack 1,300 Backpack Program bags. That's enough to feed every child in the Backpack Program for a full weekend. 

Our City Utilities and AECI volunteers even held a food and fund drive at a local grocer. By encouraging shoppers at the Walmart Neighborhood Markets to purchase extra at the grocery store, they collected 1,434 lbs. of food and $220!

Other volunteers spent time creating "Hope Notes" for the Backpack Program as a little something extra to make our Backpack kids smile. 

A huge OFH thanks goes out to all Day of Caring volunteers! I feel so lucky to be part of such a generous community that is dedicated to making sure none of our neighbors go to bed hungry.

To sign up for your own volunteer session, go to ozarksfoodharvest.org/volunteer.html.