Aug. 7, 2025
Program supports food access, education and green spaces
Vital Farms, through its corporate grantmaking fund at the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, granted $127,474 to nine agencies in its 22-county service area in Missouri. The grant-funded projects align with Vital Farms’ purpose of improving the lives of people, animals and the planet through food, and its commitment to support the communities where its network of more than 500 family farmers live and work.
The nine agencies receiving funding are:
- CASA of Southwest Missouri: $5,000 to expand the food access initiative at the CASA Clubhouse in Springfield.
- City of Republic: $25,000 to support The Loop at J.R. Martin Park, adding a farmers’ market, farmer-support services and other amenities.
- Drew Lewis Foundation Inc.: $27,500 to support program development and staffing at Bikes & Brews Bodega, enclose the new community fridge, and expand its partnership with Springfield Community Gardens.
- Good Samaritan Boys Ranch: $12,200 to support new gardens at the Boys Ranch and Laura’s Home that will introduce foster youth to healthier food options and provide hands-on gardening education in Polk and Greene counties.
- Missouri Environmental Education Association: $25,000 to support the adaptation and implementation of regenerative agriculture curriculum in Adair, Benton, Cedar, Dade, Howard, Greene, Howell and Laclede counties.
- Niangua TLC: $5,624 to establish a community garden on Niangua R-V school grounds and integrate aquaponics into the FFA curriculum.
- Polk County 4-H: $650 to provide educational opportunities for youth on the topics of embryology, 4-H programming, woodworking and gardening.
- Springfield Community Gardens: $23,000 to erect a greenhouse on a new urban farm to grow food for the food insecure and to teach farmer interns how to grow with greenhouse resources.
- University of Missouri Extension – Oregon County: $3,500 to provide operational support for Thrive Outside, a 10-day camp serving 100 youth in Oregon County.
Supported by the Vital Farms Corporate Grantmaking Fund held by the CFO, the program was open to agencies serving 22 counties in which Vital Farms’ farmers operate throughout Missouri: Adair, Bates, Benton, Cedar, Cooper, Dade, Dallas, Greene, Howard, Howell, Laclede, Lawrence, Moniteau, Morgan, Oregon, Pettis, Polk, St. Clair, Texas, Vernon, Webster and Wright counties.
Vital Farms is a Certified B Corporation that offers a range of ethically produced foods nationwide, and its award-winning egg washing and packaging facility, Egg Central Station, nests in Springfield, Missouri, less than a day’s drive from more than 500 family farms who produce the leading U.S. brand of pasture-raised eggs by retail dollar sales.
