Bread Shed receives new help, celebrates 10th year

On the eve of it’s 10 year anniversary, the Bread Shed received a $16,500 grant to help continue its services to the community.

The grant, through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO), will go toward the A Better Childhood (ABC) program and the mobile food bank. Both of these projects work to ensure needy families in the community have access to food.

“It will last us all year for what it is for,” said Jim Ward, board member of the Bread Shed.

Jim Ward, board member for the Bread Shed, receives a grant check from Brian Fogle, president of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.Photo provided

The ABC program, which is in its fourth year, works with the Poplar Bluff R-I School District to identify students who may be going hungry when not at school and offer families assistance with feeding them.

Ward said counselors at all school campuses identify the students and send home a ticket to an event on the third Thursday of each month. During the event, families receive a laundry basket of frozen food, bakery items, fruits, vegetables and canned goods.

“If there’s any families that think they can use assistance, they can get with their school counselors,” Ward said.

The Bread Shed used to do a backpack program, Ward said, but switched to the ABC program four years ago.

“It was simply nonperishable canned goods that we sent home in the backpacks,” Ward said. “We switched to this ... to provide fresh produce, frozen food and bakery items.”

The funding will also go toward the mobile food bank, which services Poplar Bluff, Doniphan and Ellsinore areas once a month. Ward said there’s normally around 400 people at the Butler County event, and 200 at each of the other two.

At those, anybody can come and pick up food. Saturday is the Poplar Bluff event, where volunteers will serve a hot breakfast starting at 7 a.m., and the truck of food will arrive at 8:30, Ward said.

The Bread Shed applied for the grant in January 2019, and officially received it last week.

The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, based in Springfield, offered these grants as part of the CFO’s new Rural Vitality Grants.

A total of $209,631 was awarded to 13 agencies in this grant round, according to a press release, funded by an anonymous donor who has specific interest in supporting young people in communities with median incomes of 200% or less of the poverty rate. These grants went to support programs focused on improving health, education and economic self-sufficiency in rural communities.

“We are very fortunate to have partners and donors who understand the dual challenges of limited grant opportunities targeted for rural America and the disparities rural residents face in areas such as access to health care and educational opportunities — important factors that contribute to economic self-sufficiency,” CFO President Brian Fogle said.

The award came just as the Bread Shed is turning 10 years old.

Ward said the Bread Shed started in February 2010, on a snow day when a group of teachers got together and discussed concerns about students not having enough to eat.

“It was ‘OK, how can we do this?’ We had no money then, and we have no money now,” Ward said. “People were like, ‘I can get some spoons’ or ‘I can get some cereal’ and ‘I can get some bowls,’ and ‘I can get some milk.’ That’s how we have been from the beginning and how we now feed our community. It’s just through people willing to help.”

The group fed breakfast the very next Saturday, Ward said.

It started with 40 students, said Ward, who’s wife is a teacher and part of the original group.

Now, the Bread Shed serves several thousand and sees more need every month.

In 2019, the organization served 30,000 members of the community, mostly in Butler County, Ward said. The year before, 25,000 people were served.

“We just look to the community,” Ward said. “It’s God that helps us; it’s the Lord because we couldn’t do it on our own.

“We have no money at the end of each month, and yet, we always have enough money at the end of each month, if that makes sense. It’s been that way for 10 years. We used to worry about it, but now we just pray about it.”

While still serving the students who were part of the organization’s original mission, the Bread Shed now also provides about 200 meals to seniors over 60 once a month and works with local churches to have a breaking bread meal every Sunday.

Ward said churches volunteer to host each week, and the schedule is currently full for the next three months. He said more than 200 people come every month.

After 10 years of service to the community, Ward said they still don’t always feel like an organization.

“It’s just a lot of people like to help,” he said. “It’s a great community that helps our organization. I’m not sure we’re a great organization. We’re just a bunch of volunteers. And we’re poor, but it works.”