People Are Awesome: Food Harvest gets perfect score, CFO hands out diversity grants

Linda Leicht
·3 min read

AFC Wish Lists give gifts to 650 kids

Through the Ambassadors for Children Christmas Wish Lists, partners, donors and volunteers helped more than 650 children in foster care from Greene County. These kids live locally and throughout the state.

More than 140 individuals/families and 44 groups sponsored the 650 children, getting them exactly what they put on their Christmas wish lists. Groups that sponsored 10 or more children include Murney Associates and Realtors, Old Missouri Bank, CNHi Reman, Springhill Baptist Church, Customer Service/Credit City Utilities of Springfield, Russell Cellular, Christ Episcopal Church, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Mike Breeding State Farm.

Eighty caseworkers from Greene County and other contracted agencies will make sure all the gifts get to their placement providers before Christmas.

Food Bank earns top charity rating

Ozarks Food Harvest has earned a 100% rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator, based on its performance across multiple metrics. This rating designates Ozarks Food Harvest as an official “Give with Confidence” charity, indicating that The Food Bank is using its donations effectively based on Charity Navigator’s criteria.

The Food Bank also received its 12th consecutive Four-Star Rating based on Charity Navigator’s key rating indicators or beacons. The four key indicators that determine a nonprofit’s score are Accountability & Finance, Culture & Community, Impact & Results and Leadership & Adaptability.

Ozarks Food Harvest — the Feeding America food bank for southwest Missouri — reaches 70,000 individuals monthly and provides more than 20 million meals annually across its 28-county service area. In the past year, Ozarks Food Harvest has purchased more than $2.5 million worth of food and awarded $500,000 in grant funds to its network of 270 faith-based and community charities to meet the increased demand for food across a third of the state of Missouri.

More information about The Food Bank’s rating and Charity Navigator is available at charitynavigator.org. Donors can also give securely online to support Ozarks Food Harvest at ozarksfoodharvest.org/donate.

CFO awards seven DEI grants

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks awarded $120,000 to seven nonprofits whose missions work to improve the quality of life for underserved and underrepresented populations.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Grants were awarded to:

  • The American Indian Center of Springfield — $21,000 to support a full-time staff position and development of in-depth, Native American-friendly curriculum;

  • Imagine Technical Institute — $25,000 to support a vocational training program for individuals with disabilities in the Springfield/Branson area;

  • Lincoln School Project — $16,000 to support the renovation of the historic Lincoln School, a segregation-era one-room schoolhouse in West Plains;

  • Missouri State University — $20,000 for the Newcomer Family Welcome Program to support refugees and other newcomers to Springfield through quality English language instruction and advocacy for language and cultural diversity;

  • Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence — $6,000 to support diversity, equity and inclusion education for its staff, board, volunteers and community partners;

  • Ujima Language and Literacy — $24,000 to support a joint initiative with the Bartley-Decatur Neighborhood Center in Springfield to provide parental and community advocacy training; and

  • Unity of Springfield — $8,000 to support an inclusive crisis cold weather shelter.

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Grants are funded by the CFO’s unrestricted assets and field-of-interest funds that support a broad area of interest. The grant committee comprises Virginia Bailey, Heather Hardinger, Denise Lofton, Kathy Munzinger, Daniel Ogunyemi, Ana Ortiz, Summer Trottier and Brooke Widmar.

The Inclusion & Belonging Grant Program supports smaller grant requests for projects that encourage diverse representation in community conversations, engagement and leadership across the region. About $34,000 remains available for requests of up to $3,000. Nonprofits can apply at cfozarks.org/applyforgrants. The program is open throughout the year, with grants awarded on a rolling basis as funds are available.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: People Are Awesome: Ozarks Food Harvest nabs perfect score