SIKESTON — Employees from Bayer Crop Science in Matthews, Mo., chose Southeast Missouri Food Bank to receive a $7,500 grant from the Bayer Fund. The grant will fund four A Better Childhood (ABC) Mobile Food Pantries for Scott and New Madrid Counties and 12 SEMO Food Bank Backpacks for Friday (BFF) at Scott County Central Schools.
Life Changers Restoration Ministries in Lilbourn hosted the first food distribution on July 16. Other food distributions for school families will be held at 1 p.m. on July 22 and at 6 p.m. on Aug. 12 at Scott County Central Schools. The fourth ABC distribution will be in New Madrid County, but the date has not yet been scheduled.
“This funding from Bayer Crop Science makes a significant difference in the lives of students and their families in New Madrid and Scott Counties,” said Joey Keys, chief executive officer at SEMO Food Bank. “We appreciate the Monsanto employees choosing SEMO Food Bank for this grant. These employees also support us with their volunteer time at mobile food distributions and by packing senior food boxes.”
“We recommended this program to receive a grant from the Bayer Fund because we believe it is important to invest in the well-being of this generation of children,” said Robert Cook, tech specialist at Bayer Crop Science, Matthews. “We’re happy and excited to support Southeast Missouri Food Bank with this Bayer Fund grant.”
ABC mobile pantries provide easily accessible, nutritious food to hungry children at a familiar location and safe environment, such as schools, libraries, community centers and churches. The mobiles are especially important when children are out of school in the summer and parents struggle to provide three healthy meals a day.
The BFF program provides a backpack of food—about ten pounds--during the weekend when schools’ free and reduced lunch programs are not available. The food in the backpack is selected to feed a family of four.
In 2019, the Bayer Fund awarded more than $1.4 million through this program to nonprofit organizations in rural communities to help address essential needs in food and nutrition; science, technology and math education; and community development.
Nonprofit organizations across the United States have received more than $7 million through this program over the last five years.