Cassville Pantry recently received an Urgent Need Grant thanks to Ozarks Food Harvest’s $1 million investment in agency infrastructure in southwest Missouri.

The grant funding has allowed us to purchase two large capacity chest freezers, which will help sustain our food distributions and feed families in Barry County.

“For families with children, individuals, and seniors facing hunger in times of financial worry and uncertainty, the grant is a significant blessing which mobilizes our ability to offer hope and sustenance to the vulnerable in our community,” said Janet Mills, director of Cassville Pantry. “Thanks to the Ozarks Food Harvest, we are able to securely maintain our food inventory and advance our food distribution capabilities in the future.”

Ozarks Food Harvest is the Feeding America food bank for southwest Missouri, serving faithbased and community charities across a third of Missouri. This Urgent Need Grant is part of The Food Bank’s multi-faceted strategy to address needs identified in Missouri’s Food Assistance and Hunger in the Heartland 2021 report conducted by the MU Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security.

“The Urgent Need Grant is designed to assist our network of charities with a time-sensitive crisis that interferes with their mission,” said Bart Brown, president/ CEO of Ozarks Food Harvest. “We’re so happy to be able to help, especially as more families continue to face the increased costs of childcare, food and housing.”

Mills said the new units will provide many benefits.

‘The freezers replace aging units with new energy efficient ones and will increase our frozen storage capacity and energy efficiency,’ she said. ‘The enhanced frozen storage capacity will allow the pantry to store on site more frozen meat, vegetables, and fruit, which are highly desirable products. Trends in food packaging have transitioned beyond reliance just upon canned products alone. We are able to inventory more freshly frozen packaged produce product items such as frozen blueberries and strawberries for example.’

Rising grocery prices due to inflation have placed a heavier burden on low-income individuals, leaving them with less disposable income for other necessities. As a result, many new visitors are compelled to seek assistance from the food pantry to bridge the gap and ensure basic nutritional needs are met.

The Pantry provides an average of 550-600 food boxes each month to the food insecure community. Individuals served monthly range between 1,400-1,550 persons.

More information about the services provided by Cassville Pantry can be found at web site cassvillepantry.com or https:// www.facebook.com/cassville.pantry. The pantry may be reached at: 417-846-7871 Ozarks Food Harvest is the Feeding America food bank for southwest Missouri, serving 270 faith-based and community charities across a third of Missouri. The Food Bank reaches 70,000 individuals monthly and provides more than 20 million meals annually. Learn more at ozarksfoodharvest. org, facebook.com/ ozarksfoodharvest or instagram. com/ozarksfoodharvest.