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Phone: (417) 865-3411 O’Reilly Center for Hunger Relief Emergency Food Assistance Sites |
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Capital Campaign Updates
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Summer
2007 A campaign update from Charlie O'Reilly: $1.3 million
more to go! I hope you will take a moment to read the touching personal stories of childhood hunger we have included below. It’s because of these stories from children and their families that I am Honorary Campaign Chair of Ozarks Food Harvest’s Compassion in Action capital campaign for a new distribution center. This campaign is not just about a new building, it’s about hungry children and struggling families. Each year, Ozarks Food Harvest is forced to turn away thousands of pounds of food because there just isn’t anywhere to store it. We have also seen a 44 percent increase in the number of families seeking food assistance over the last four years. We need a new warehouse, because we need to transform these heart-wrenching stories of hunger into HOPE. We are the proud recipient of three significant out-of-state challenge grants that will make up $1.1 million of our campaign goal, that is, if we can count on your help to raise the additional $1.3 million in challenge funds. The J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Kresge Foundation of Troy, Michigan and the Sunderland Foundation of Overland Park, Kansas challenge you to do as much for your community as they have. If you believe that children and families in Southwest Missouri should not be hungry, then call 417-865-3411 today to make a donation to the campaign and put your Compassion in Action. Sincerely, Charlie O’Reilly, Honorary Campaign Chair
Spring 2007 The Kresge Foundation $500,000 Challenge Grant: Ozarks Food Harvest needs your help to meet this challenge from the Kresge Foundation We have great
news! Thanks to your continued dedication to Transforming Hunger
into Hope through our capital campaign, we have received a $500,000
challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation! Fall 2006 Announcement: Compassion in Action Campaign to Fund a New Distribution Warehouse Center DONATE NOW and designate your donation as capital campaign In the last
20 years Ozarks Food Harvest has distributed 65 million pounds of
food and filled the plates of tens of thousands of children, adults
and seniors in the Ozarks. In the last four years, requests for
food assistance have increased by 44 percent, and The Food Bank
realizes that the next 20 years of hunger relief will require diligence
and a larger facility! While there is more than enough food available in Southwest Missouri to serve all those in need, Ozarks Food Harvest was forced to turn down over a quarter of a million pounds of food in 2005, because there was nowhere to store it. A larger facility is critical to meeting the needs of impoverished individuals, children, families and seniors in Southwest Missouri. The warehouse Ozarks Food Harvest has leased since 1989 is simply inadequate. In order to take advantage of as much donated food as possible, Ozarks Food Harvest must adapt to changes in the food industry – particularly the pronounced increase in frozen and refrigerated foods – and customize its storage space accordingly.
“Ozarks Food Harvest helps more than 37,000 people in 29 counties in the Ozarks each month, and our community can’t afford to waste food that could be helping these people,” Jim Lewis, Ozarks Food Harvest’s Compassion in Action capital campaign Co-Chair, said. The new facility will allow The Food Bank to double the quantity of food distributed, and expand its outreach and education efforts. This ultimately means more food for low-income children, families, and older adults who struggle daily for this basic human right. Ozarks Food Harvest is proud to announce that more than half the $4.1 million campaign goal has been raised! “We have gratefully accepted our first choice in property, located in an industrial park near Kearney and Hwy 65, as a lead gift from the Charlie O’Reilly Family and Tom Rankin ,” said Michael Mattson, Board President. Please join the Compassion in Action capital campaign to Transform Hunger into Hope™ in the Ozarks.
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The
Food Bank has embarked on a Compassion in Action capital campaign
to build a larger, customized and more efficient food distribution
center to better meet the needs of its community.