Photo by Katy St. ClairThe Food Bank Farm, part of Full Circle Gardens, is a program where volunteers work with staff to grow and harvest vegetables and fruits to donate to Ozarks Food Harvest.
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Lifestyle
How Ozarks Food Harvest Tackles Food Insecurity
How Ozarks Food Harvest’s Full Circle Gardens program works to make fresh produce available to neighbors facing food insecurity and hunger.
by Nadia Fletcher
Aug 2025
Healthy food is essential to overall well-being, yet many people in the Ozarks face hunger. According to the USDA one in five children don’t know where their next meal will come from. Ozarks Food Harvest works to alleviate food insecurity across 28 Ozarks counties. “Our overall mission is to transform hunger into hope,” says Alexa Poindexter, director of Full Circle Gardens, one of Ozark Food Harvest’s 270 partner sites that help work to achieve their mission.
Located in Rogersville, the Food Bank Farm, part of Full Circle Gardens, is a program where volunteers work with staff to grow and harvest vegetables and fruits to donate to Ozarks Food Harvest. Once harvested, the produce is sent to pantries, kitchens and agencies to be used in meals and distributed to neighbors in need. In addition to the Food Bank Farm, a volunteer group called the Glean Team works with local farmers to gather leftover produce, reduce waste and provide more food for those in need.
Photo by Katy St. ClairThe greenhouses at Full Circle Gardens feature vertical rows of produce such as tomatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage and more.
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Two large greenhouses are the first thing visitors notice at the gardens. The greenhouses feature vertical rows of produce such as tomatoes, carrots, beets, cabbage and more. Adjacent to the greenhouses is the main garden, dotted with 78 cinderblock beds where more produce and flowers grow. The Food Bank Farm grows 14,500 pounds of fresh produce each year that goes towards Ozarks Food Harvest distribution of more than 21 million meals annually. The gardens rely on volunteers to get the job done. “Volunteers truly keep our programs running,” she says. “We couldn’t feed the community the way we do without them, both at the garden and at our distribution center.
Due to funds being cut, Ozarks Food Harvest and their partner sites need extra support from the community. People can help offset this loss through donations of time or money. “Ozarks Food Harvest is incredibly efficient with donations. We can take $1 and turn it into $10 worth of groceries for a family facing hunger,” says Jordan Browning, director of communications. “Ninety-six cents of every dollar goes directly to food programs.”
Learn more about volunteering or contributing to Ozarks Food Harvest.
