DECEMBER 2024
HARVEST TIME
OZARKS FOOD HARVEST – THE FOOD BANK
NEWSLETTER FROM THE O’REILLY CENTER FOR HUNGER RELIEF
“If I can preserve food to feed my family, that’s what I’m going to do. This food helps me have a stocked pantry for the crazy things in this world.”
ANNA’S STORY: PRESERVING FOOD TO PRESERVE HOPE Anna has a skill that’s not too common these days, and it’s helping her family keep food in the pantry. She knows how to can her own food. Growing up, Anna remembers watching her grandmother home-can food, preserving the freshness of their fruits and vegetables so that nothing went to waste. Anna always wanted to learn, but it wasn’t until recently that she finally taught herself the skill. Now, she’s using her knowledge not only as a fulfilling hobby, but a way to provide for her family when times are tough. Before her husband’s injury, Anna’s family had a routine. He would go to work as a press operator in Cassville, and Anna would prepare for a day of homeschool with their four children. But last year, Anna’s husband injured his knee. It was debilitating and caused him to be out of work for eight weeks recovering from surgery. That meant eight weeks without their primary source of income. It was a blow to their finances. To help keep up, Anna got a job painting houses, but it didn’t pay as well as her husband’s had, and the new routine wasn’t working out for their family. “It was hard for him to tend to the little ones [with a knee injury],” Anna explained. Then, just as Anna’s husband was cleared to return to work, the family faced another
ozarksfoodharvest.org
– Anna, age 29
setback. A severe storm brought destructive straight-line winds to Barry County that left the family without power for almost a week. “It ruined food in the fridges and freezers,” said Anna, “and we didn’t qualify for any type of government assistance. We were just trying to pick up the pieces where we could.” That’s when the pastor at Mt. Zion Church in Washburn invited the family to Ozarks Food Harvest’s Mobile Food Pantry hosted in the parking lot. With food from our Mobile Food Pantry, groceries are one less burden on Anna’s family as they recover from recent challenges. Anna even uses her home-canning skills to preserve fresh foods from the distribution just like her grandmother did. “Not knowing where your next meal comes from makes you want to preserve this kind of stuff,” Anna said. “We’re still trying to recover financially from my husband being off work and inflation. If I can preserve [food] to feed my family, that’s what I’m going to do. This food helps me have a stocked pantry for the crazy things in this world.” Just days after Anna visited our Mobile Food Pantry, she shared that she’d canned the carrots and chicken they’d received, “just to give them a little more shelf life.” She also uses canning and gardening as science lessons for her children.
Anna’s story is similar to what many people are facing. Right now, 1 in 5 children and 1 in 6 adults in southwest Missouri face hunger as a result of the high costs of food and basic necessities. The Food Bank has served an average of 70,000 individuals per month for the past year; that’s higher than the peak of the COVID-19 crisis. As we head into the coldest months, Ozarks Food Harvest needs your help to keep up with record-high demand and make programs like our Mobile Food Pantry possible. As Anna said, “It helps a lot of people. People need to eat. I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what you’ve done. Food should never be a privilege for anybody.” Will you make a gift today so families like Anna’s don’t have to choose between food or utility bills this holiday season? To give now, scan the QR code or visit ozarksfoodharvest. org/donate.