September was Hunger Action Month—and our Crosslines community showed up in a BIG way.
Throughout August and September, friends of Crosslines participated in our Pack a Lunch! campaign, created to help make sure children across the Ozarks have simple, kid-friendly foods available when they are home and hungry.
And thanks to our friends at Thrivent, every dollar went even further.
By the time the campaign ended, you had helped us unlock the full $20,000 in additional funding to feed hungry kids in the Ozarks.
You crushed it.
But giving wasn’t the only way our community got involved.
Following our September Board of Directors meeting, board members and members of the community rolled up their sleeves and went to work, packing 308 lunch kits, representing approximately 3,080 meals for local children.
“Unfortunately, there are a lot of kids that go hungry if we don’t have an opportunity to give them food,” said Crosslines Board Member Jim Anderson. “Thrivent was kind enough to provide financial support to make all this happen and we’re grateful.”
The Food Bank and the Food Pantry
Of course, Crosslines doesn’t fight hunger alone.
One of our most important partners is Ozarks Food Harvest—and our relationship goes back almost to the very beginning.
In fact, in 1983, the Springfield Area Council of Churches—the organization now known as Crosslines Community Outreach—helped establish Ozarks Food Harvest with $10,000 in funding from SACC and the Missouri Office on Aging.
More than four decades later, we’re still working together.
The easiest way to understand the relationship is to think of Ozarks Food Harvest as the wholesaler and Crosslines as the retailer.
Ozarks Food Harvest is southwest Missouri’s food bank. They work on a massive scale—rescuing, purchasing, storing and distributing food through a network of more than 300 hunger-relief organizations across 28 counties.
Crosslines is one of those local food pantries.
We are the place where that food meets the family.
Our volunteers stock the shelves. Our team welcomes the guest. Families select groceries that work for their households. Seniors receive food boxes. Homebound neighbors receive deliveries. And when someone needs more than groceries, our team can help connect them to additional resources and support.
It’s a partnership that works because each organization does something different—and we do it better together.
In 2024, Ozarks Food Harvest marked an extraordinary milestone: the 10 millionth meal provided to Crosslines through our decades-long partnership.
Ten million meals.
And behind every one is a neighbor.
Hunger Doesn’t End When September Does
Hunger Action Month may be over. The Thrivent campaign may be complete. The 300 lunch kits may be packed and ready to distribute.
But some kids will still wake up hungry tomorrow.
Parents will still stand in grocery aisles doing mental math. Seniors will still stretch fixed incomes between food, utilities and medicine. And families will continue walking through the doors of Crosslines looking for a little help getting through a difficult season.
Thankfully, they’ll also find a community ready to help.
To every donor who gave, every board member who packed, Thrivent for multiplying those gifts, and Ozarks Food Harvest for helping keep our shelves stocked: thank you.
This is what happens when a community decides that fighting hunger is everyone’s business.
And together, we’re making sure our neighbors don’t go without.