Ozarks Food Harvest says it’s expanding service beyond West Plains to all of Howell County.
Prequalification for the program will take place next month.
Sherry Jolliff is the OFH coordinator for West Plains. She says originally officials tried to service West Plains, but weren’t seeing the numbers they wanted, so are now expanding to the entire county.
“When we first established this particular pantry, we determined that we would like to service 250 families if possible,” Jolliff said. “We have yet to reach that goal, we have gotten close. Our average though is 158 to 160 families,” Jolliff said.
Previously, the criteria only included families who lived within the boundaries of the West Plains R-7 School District or surrounding rural school districts. Those now eligible to apply for this assistance include area families with children ages birth through 18 who live within Howell County. This includes the communities of West Plains, Willow Springs and Mountain View.
You must show proof of income and residency, provide the names of the children that live in your home and show photo identification.
Missouri State University-West Plains and South Central Career Center students only need to show student identification and proof of income.
Ozarks Food Harvest will be conducting its monthly rounds of prequalification on February 4th from 4 to 5:45 p.m. at the West Plains Public Library community room.
Additional information, including qualifying income levels, can be found here.
Ozarks Food Harvest serves more than 200 hunger-relief organizations across 28 Ozarks counties.