In all, 23 of the CFO’s 44 affiliates participated in the Hunger Challenge, which leverages the total of $250,000 at a 10:1 ratio of buying, transporting and distributing food through the OFH network of feeding programs and pantries.

The Walmart State Giving Foundation awarded a $125,000 grant to Ozarks Food Harvest for a second challenge opportunity earlier this year after last year’s success with a $100,000 grant for the original Ozarks Million Dollar Hunger Challenge.

In this year’s Ozarks Million Dollar Hunger Challenge II, 25 food programs across the region worked with the 23 CFO affiliates to raise matching funds by the end of September.

Grant presentations, shown in the gallery below, have been made with affiliate and food program leaders in a number of the communities over the past month. The participating affiliates were: Aurora, Bolivar, Cassville, DACO, Dallas, Dent, El Dorado Springs, Finley River, Houston, Jacks Fork, Lockwood, Marshfield, Monett, Mount Vernon, Mountain Grove, Neosho, Nixa, Oregon County, Seymour, Stockton, Southwest Missouri, Taney County and West Plains.

“We appreciate the cooperative spirit between our affiliate foundations and their local food pantries to jointly tackle this matching grant opportunity,” CFO President Brian Fogle said.

This program began in response to a national report  – “Hunger in America 2010” – describing the extent to which hunger plagues Ozarks communities. An estimated 155,000 Ozarkers face chronic hunger issues, according to the report.

“We are grateful for the funding from the Walmart State Giving Program which allows us to leverage hunger relief support to our local Ozarks communities,” said Bart Brown, CEO at Ozarks Food Harvest.

“There’s a growing population of clients who are not eligible for government assistance such as WIC or the National School Lunch Program. This ‘gap’ truly relies on our member pantries and feeding sites to help feed their families,” Brown said. “The current child food insecurity rate is sobering. More than a quarter of our children — five percent higher than the national rate — now face hunger, or do not know where their next meal is coming from.”

Ozarks Food Harvest is the Feeding America food bank for southwest Missouri, serving more than 300 hunger relief organizations across 28 Ozarks counties in addition to long-term relief sites in Joplin. The Food Bank reaches 20,000 individuals weekly and distributes one million pounds of food monthly. OFH was named the 2011 Small Business of the Year by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest.org and at facebook.com/ozarksfoodharvest.

Lockwood board members in attendance (L-R): Renee Galer, Fred Lemons, LaRue Lemons, Orvel Cooper, Roger Whaley and Ella Whaley

On Thursday, July 21 CFO staff, along with volunteers and donors from the Dade County community of Lockwood, celebrated the Lockwood Community Foundation reaching the landmark threshold of $1 million in assets. Affectionately known as “Million Dollar Babies”, Lockwood joins 13 other CFO affiliates in the $1 million-plus category (a full list is at the bottom of this post).

The Lockwood Community Foundation will receive a $500 Unrestricted President’s Grant for reaching the milestone.

CFO president Brian Fogle opened the luncheon, held at Lockwood’s Roy E. Carr American Legion Post, with a few words, followed by a delicious lunch of beef brisket, potatoes, green beans, salad, bread and blackberry cobbler. Afterwards, Fogle thanked the Lockwood volunteers, donors and board, particularly foundation stalwarts and co-founders Fred and LaRue Lemons, for doing very big things in a small town.

“One million is a huge achievement for anybody,” Fogle said. “You’re successful because of people like you, who want to make a difference and want to leave something behind.”

Fred LaRue – who is currently board president – then honored the board members in attendance, and shared some of the story of the foundation’s origins.

“We were going to try and do it ourselves,” he said. “But someone told me ‘You don’t want to get mixed up with a bunch of lawyers …  it’ll take years!’.”

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks congratulates and thanks the Lockwood community for its support and hard work. Learn more about the Lockwood Community Foundation here.

Here’s a complete list of CFO affiliates with more than $1 million in assets:

Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri, Inc.
Taney County Community Foundation
Aurora Area Community Foundation
Willow Springs Community Foundation
Dent County Community Foundation
Nixa Community Foundation
Table Rock Lake Community Foundation
Crawford County Community Foundation
Greater Seymour Area Foundation
Monett Area Community Foundation
Community Foundation of West Plains, Inc.
Bolivar Area Community Foundation
Lockwood Community Foundation
Finley River Community Foundation

The 2011 conference for the CFO’s affiliate foundations offered a variety of topics and information for more than 60 presidents and board members who came to Springfield last week.

CFO President Brian Fogle offered a perspective on rural community development aimed at reinforcing the affiliates’ roles as leaders and community builders.

Three breakout sessions on board development, fund development and marketing/communications were designed to share practical ideas and goals for the key topics identified at last conference when the affiliates focused on strategic planning.

A lunchtime panel discussion highlighted successful event planning and fundraising ideas, including tips on making the events both safe and successful.

The CFO’s Carol Silvey continued the “friendraising” training she began during the fall regional meetings with affiliates. And Brian Fogle wrapped up the conference by celebrating the CFO’s recent milestone of $100 million in grantmaking and distributions back to our communities. He also congratulated four affiliates that have recently achieved the $1 million milestone in assets – the Aurora Area Community Foundation, the Finley River Community Foundation, the Lockwood Community Foundation, and the West Plains Community Foundation.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is again teaming up with Ozarks Food Harvest and the Walmart State Giving Program to tackle the chronic hunger problems that affect our region.

The 2^nd Annual Ozarks Million Dollar Hunger Challenge kicked off at a news conference at Ozarks Food Harvest today. The Walmart Foundation State Giving Program pledged a $125,000 grant toward a 1:1 match with regional food pantries served by Ozarks Food Harvest.

The participating food pantries were selected in 27 communities that have CFO affiliate foundations so that those foundations could offer fundraising support, community grantmaking awards or other types of assistance to partner with their local food banks.

“This is a great way to address hunger across one-third of the state of Missouri using a great trio of partners,” OFH President and CEO Bart Brown said.

He also discussed a new analysis of local “food insecurity” levels that support anecdotal information and a 2010 Hunger Study. The analysis shows that many people facing “food insecurity” have income and/or resources that make them ineligible for assistance programs. Many of them are people who have lost jobs, but still have homes or cars that count as assets.

“More and more clients who come to food pantries are the unemployed middle class who need assistance,” Brown said. “Technically, they’re not poor, but they don’t have any money.”

Through Ozarks Food Harvest’s buying program, the $250,000 in potential funds from the challenge grant and matching funds will leverage about $1 million worth, or 2.5 million pounds, of food for the participating pantries, food banks and mobile food banks.

The first Million Dollar Hunger Challenge was completed last year when 19 CFO affiliates raised $105,000, which was matched with $100,000 from the Walmart State Foundation.

CFO President Brian Fogle said this represents another example where charitable dollars are filling the gaps created by decreased public funding at all levels. He said this model works well because it directly serves residents in the communities where the money will be raised.

“That is philanthropy at its best,” Fogle said.

Becky Wood, Walmart’s Senior Foundation Manager from Bentonville, Ark., said the company’s State Giving Councils are comprised of local associates who determine the best use of foundation resources for  their states.

“It’s great to be a partner with you in Springfield,” she said.

Lockwood Superintendent Bill Rogers, left, and Lockwood Community Foundation leaders Fred and LaRue Lemons, right, accept a $10,000 Cooper Phase II check from Winter Skelton, of the CFO.

The Lockwood Community Foundation and Lockwood Public Schools worked to together to raise more than $20,000 for the Lockwood Community Foundation Academic Fund and garnered a $10,000 match from the Harry Cooper Supply Company Campaign for the Ozarks Phase II.

Lockwood superintendent Bill Rogers says reaching out to alumni was integral to the success of their effort. “We sent letters to all known alumni early on,” said Rogers, “and we made sure to write handwritten thank you notes to every person who made a contribution.” In all, 59 donors contributed $20,300 with gifts ranging in size from $5 to $5,000.

Winter Skelton, CFO development operations director, said Lockwood’s grassroots effort exemplifies the spirit of the Rural Schools Partnership program and the Cooper campaign. She added, “What we always hope to see is cooperation between the school and the community at large—cooperation that engages as many people as possible. When this occurs, good things happen!”

Fred Lemons, Lockwood Community Foundation, has shepherded his Foundation’s growth since its inception in 1999. “The entire community has rallied around us,” said Lemons. “So many businesses and caring individuals have made our growth possible.” Lemons is particularly excited that the Lockwood Community Foundation is approaching the $1 million milestone in total assets. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we hit a million by Christmas,” he predicted.

The Harry Cooper Supply Company Campaign for the Ozarks is a dollar for dollar challenge grant in partnership with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks that is part of an overall regional effort to enhance community grantmaking endowments, establish administrative/operations endowments, and promote appropriate and best practices by community foundation board of directors. This initiative is made possible through the generosity of the Harry Cooper Supply Company.

A collaboration between the Springfield Regional Arts Council and CFO, the GOAT is a multimedia platform that tours Ozarks’ schools and events with the mission to deliver arts opportunities to area communities. Vincent was created by students from Drury University in art and architecture.

For more information on the GOAT, contact the Springfield Regional Arts Council of CFO at (417) 864-6199.