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.

MGACF board members and grant recipients at the banquet.

The Mountain Grove Area Community Foundation awarded $10,000 in grants to nine community groups at its first-ever Boot Scootin’ Benefit at the Downtown Event Center on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The Foundation has been re-invigorated in recent months with the addition of more board members who organized Saturday’s event, which included entertainment by the STARS Foundation band, and singer Jason Plummer; a chuck wagon style steak dinner, a silent auction and awards for the Biggest Buckle, Ugliest Boots and Best Hat.

Guest speaker Carol Silvey, the CFO’s senior associate for advancement, congratulated the Mountain Grove board on its renewed activity.

“Philanthropy is not about people giving millions of dollars,” she said. “It’s about a lot of people giving $10, $25, or $2. It all gets put into a big pot and adds up.”

These groups received the grant awards at the banquet:
• Make a Wish: $500 to support a local child with a life-threatening illness achieve his dream of a trip to Disney World.

• Mountain Grove Fire Department: $500 to help upgrade the existing storm siren system and add new sirens.

• Mountain Grove Police Department: $500 to help pay for software licenses to connect patrol cars to the records management system to give officers access to information while on patrol or responding to incidents.

• Grove Dairy Products: $500 toward a feasibility study and business plan for a processing plant.

• Downtown Association: $1,000 for maintenance costs of the Event Center and renovating its floor.

• YMCA Mountain Grove Branch: $1,000 to help renovate the front lobby, including winterizing the doors.

• Mountain Grove Central Arts Council: $2,000 to help renovate the upper floor of its historic building, which had previously been used as a juvenile detention center.

• STARS Foundation: $2,000 for rental costs for instruments and equipment for the program that teaches children ages 4-15 music in return for kids doing community service projects.

• Wright County Children’s Home: $2,000 to help purchase a new agency vehicle so employees don’t have to use their own cars instead of using the 15-passenger van for trips of just a couple of people.

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.

Springfield public radio station, KSMU, aired a June 14 report on the program, which is made possible through the CFO’s Ozark Plateau Initiative to bring visiting artists to rural communities.

Shell Knob hosted a performance by Jim and Kim Lansford Saturday, June 12, to accompany the exhibition “This Contest is for Real Hands: Rodeo Photographs of the 1930s,” which continues at the Old Church Gallery through June 15.

Mountain Grove also hosted an “Opry-style” performance Saturday, June 12, by Les Gillham, to go with the “The Grand Ole Opry” exhibit, which continues through June 15 at the Mountain Grove Senior Center. The local history and Arts Councils developed this project to coincide with Mountain Grove’s community fair.

Willard’s exhibition – “Apron Strings: Ties to the Past” – continues at Rocco’s Italian Restaurant through June 15. Colleen Mallette performed there to accompany the exhibit.

Eldon also chose “The Grand Ole Opry” as its exhibition, which will run from June 21-25 at the Senior Center of Eldon. Jim and Kim Lansford will perform on June 25 at the Senior Center.

Houston selected the “Apron Strings” exhibition, which will run from June 23-July 7 in conjunction with Licking’s summer Rodeo, along with a performance to be announced.

The Ozark Plateau Initiative, created in 2005 through leadership provided by Springfield philanthropist Sally Baird, undertook this project with the Mid-America Arts Alliance to serve CFO’s regional affiliate communities. Since its inception, programs have taken place in Salem, Seymour, West Plains, Cuba, Stockton, Forsyth, Gainesville, Poplar Bluff, Carthage, Clinton, Hermitage, Mt. Vernon, Marshfield and Ozark. The Missouri Arts Council has joined the partnership by providing resources to continue the program for more communities in the future.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks is pleased to announce the Ozarks Million Dollar Hunger Challenge. Made possible by a $100,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation State Program and a partnership with Ozarks Food Harvest, this program allows CFO affiliate community foundations to raise  dollars that will be matched 1:1 to fight hunger in their local communities. The program will leverage the initial $100,000 gift into $200,000 which will procure $1 million worth of food through Ozarks Food Harvest, the only food bank serving one-third of Missouri.

Twenty-one  affiliates have chosen to participate in this program which was available to those CFO affiliates that fall within Ozarks Food Harvest’s 29-county service area. A complete of list participating affiliates is located at the end of this story.

“It’s only natural that we partner with the Walmart Foundation and CFO since our service areas in this part of the state literally mirror each other,” said Bart Brown, president and CEO of Ozarks Food Harvest.

Hunger challenge funds have been established as component funds of each participating affiliate community foundation. The matching opportunity runs through June 30, 2010.

“The challenging economic environment we’re facing calls for us to identify new resources to help with hunger, and make the existing ones stretch further,” said Brian Fogle, executive vice president of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. “The generous Walmart grant provides the catalyst for our affiliates to raise matching funds, and the strength and connections of Ozarks Food Harvest insure those funds will be used in the most effective manner to address hunger in our Ozarks region.”

This partnership was unveiled following the February 4th announcement of a new landmark hunger study which found that Ozarks Food Harvest is serving 155,000 individuals annually. Ozarks Food Harvest-The Food Bank distributed seven milion pounds of food during its last fiscal year, the highest distribution in its 27-year history. To view the complete study and learn more, please visit ozarksfoodharvest.org.

Ozarks Million Dollar Hunger Challenge participating affiliates include:
- Aurora Area Community Foundation
- Bolivar Area Community Foundation
- Cassville Community Foundation
- DACO Community Foundation
- Dallas County Community Foundation
- El Dorado Springs Community Foundation
- Finley River Community Foundation
- Houston Community Foundation
- Jacks Fork Community Foundation
- Marshfield Area Community Foundation
- Mtn. Grove Area Community Foundation
- Nixa Community Foundation
- Oregon County Community Foundation
- Ozark County Community Foundation
- Greater Seymour Area Foundation
- Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri (Carthage & Joplin)
- Stockton Community Foundation
- Table Rock Lake Community Foundation
- Taney County Community Foundation
-  Community Foundation of West Plains

CAPTION: From left to right: Skip Tinney, market manager, Walmart; Sharon Whitehill Gray, president, Nixa Community Foundation & CFO board member; Leigh Hall, Nixa Community Foundation board member; Brian Fogle, CFO; Betty Ann Rogers, Nixa Community Foundation board member; and Bart Brown, president/CEO, Ozarks Food Harvest.

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.