Ozarks Food Harvest receives Chamber's 2011 Small Business Award

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce announced Ozarks Food Harvest, Inc., as its 2011 W. Curtis Strube Small Business Award recipient on May 4 during its annual awards luncheon.

Video courtesy of Opfer Communications, Inc.

The award, presented by the Chamber's Small Business Council, is determined by written applications scored by an independent panel of judges.

The judges include the previous year's recipient, two business professionals as selected by the Small Business Council, and two local business assistance providers. The application consists of written essays covering company history, management philosophy, response to challenges, innovative products or services and community-oriented contributions.

Ozarks Food Harvest, Inc., (OFH) a food bank in southwest Missouri, serves more than 300 hunger-relief organizations across 28 counties. With 29 employees, president and CEO is Bart Brown.

OFH reaches more than 155,000 individuals and distributes nearly nine million pounds of food annually, or more than $15 million, distributed to its network of member charities. OFH also administers five direct-relief programs aimed at providing nutritious and consistent food sources. They include: The Weekend Backpack Program; Kids Café; The Summer Food Service Program; The Commodity Supplemental Food Program; and the Mobile Food Pantry.

The Chamber's Small Business Award is named for the late director of the Breech School of Business at Drury University, Dr. W. Curtis Strube. He was instrumental in the creation of many programs for small businesses, among them the Small Business Council of the Chamber.

The award celebrates the success of the Chamber's small business members and recognizes the importance small businesses play in the local economy. Small businesses make up the majority of the Chamber's membership. Of the Chamber's nearly 2,000 members, more than 85 percent employ 50 or fewer and 75 percent employ 25 or fewer.

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Nonprofits & Activism

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