CCSOMO Receives Urgent Needs Grant from Ozarks Food Harvest

Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri recently received an Urgent Need Grant thanks to Ozarks Food Harvest’s $1 million investment in agency infrastructure in southwest Missouri.

The grant funding will purchase a refrigerator for LifeHouse Crisis Maternity Home in Springfield, helping to sustain nutritional education and healthy habits for resident mothers and their children.

“Losing a vital piece of equipment used to support services for our moms and kiddos can be quite a hurdle,” said Ken Palermo, CEO of Catholic Charities. “Ozarks Food Harvest teams provided such quick turnaround for us, minimizing the impacts of something many may take for granted, putting food on the table.”

Ozarks Food Harvest is the Feeding America food bank for southwest Missouri, serving faith-based 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.

LifeHouse Crisis Maternity Home residents are often limited in their kitchen experience; this includes food and meal prep, utilizing equipment, food safety, following recipes, understanding proper nutrition and a healthy diet. Each of the residents sign up to cook dinner with the Nutrition and Kitchen Specialist nightly, during which they receive education, recipes, safety tips, and encouragement for their future. It is important for the women to gain the basic skills and knowledge needed to provide and care for her family when she transitions into her home after graduation from the LifeHouse program.