Southeast Missouri Food Bank Sikeston Mo

Southeast Missouri Food Bank Offers Mobile Services At Partner Locations

Cape Chronicle – SEMO Food Bank

SIKESTON, Mo Southeast Missouri Food Bank partners with local organizations throughout 16 counties in southeast Missouri to offer mobile food pantries.

SEMO Food Bank helps serve 70,000 individuals. Its ability to help reach this many individuals is because of its network of 140 partner agencies that allow them to have programs like its mobile food pantries. Volunteers like Rita Savage of Green Memorial Church feel this is a great way to help the community.

We enjoy doing it to be great blessing to the community, said Savage.

SEMO Food Bankmobile pantries reach a large amount people at each locationand using this service can help families save money.

Each mobile food pantry can serve 200 families, said Heather Collier, Donations Manger. So if you think about a family going to a grocery store the amount of food, theyll receive those mobile food pantries saves them probably $70.

Another program that SEMO Food Bank offers its Backpacks for Friday program. In southeast Missouri one in five children do not have enough food to eat. The Food Bank efforts help 1,200 students in 31 school districts receive easy no prep packs to help this cause.

Every dollar donated to the Food Bank helps provide four meals, so if you got $5 to spare that is $20 to a family that is struggle to get by on minimal wages jobs or a fixed income. said Collier.

Southeast Missouri Food Bank Awards $10000 To 5 Partners

SIKESTON, Mo. – The Southeast Missouri Food Bank recently awarded a total of $10,000 to five of its partner agencies across its 16-county service area. The funds awarded will allow the agencies to increase and improve their distribution process.

Grants were awarded to:

Jesus In Disguise Pantry in Benton
Christ Episcopal Church in Cape Girardeau
Advance UMC in Advance
Clearwater Ministerial Alliance in Piedmont
Open Door Food Pantry in Holcomb

The grant opportunity was announced at the food banks annual agency conference in October. All partner agencies were invited to submit a request for a maximum of $3,000, including information on what would be purchased and how it would allow them to better serve their communities.

The grants were used to purchase items that will allow the agencies to be more efficient in distributions and increase their storage capacity, such as new shelving and freezers.

We Got Crafty For The Community

Through Restorative Justice programs that help incarcerated Missourians give back, offenders channeled their artistic skills into projects that benefit nonprofit organizations through donation to recipients or fundraising auctions. Incarcerated craftspeople throughout the state created 55 Special Olympics trophies 12,721 sewing and crocheting projects 520 quilts, blankets and afghans 487 woodworking projects 253 paintings and murals 10,543 sets of KidSmart educational materials and 1,115 miscellaneous projects. In addition, offender-led fundraisers generated more than $17,050 in monetary donations. The more than 160 recipient organizations serve Missourians in areas such as education, child development, elder care, mental health, emergency shelter, crime prevention and more.

Also Check: Food Bank Of Delaware Newark

We Opened A Transition Center

On April 1, clients began moving into the newly renovated Transition Center of Kansas City , a residential probation and parole facility equipped with housing for 150 clients and workspace for 106 staff, as well as classrooms, computer labs, a professional-attire lending closet, programming space and more. Instead of going home to old habits, Kansas City-area clients work with reentry professionals on building a new mindset and the foundation for a better life in a tiered, four-phase program. TCKC partners with more than 50 organizations offering holistic reentry services, behavioral health treatment, financial services, employment and job training.

Semo Food Bank Awards Grants To Bootheel Partners

SIKESTON, Mo. – Southeast Missouri Food Bank recently awarded $10,000 in total to five of its partner agencies.

Advance UMC in Stoddard County and Open Door Food Pantry in Dunklin County happened to be two of the recipients, each of which submitted a request for a maximum of $3,000 with details on what would be purchased and how to would help them serve their communities.

Our agencies work tirelessly in their communities to help their neighbors that are facing poverty, hardship and hunger, said Camille Peters, director of programs and member services at SEMO Food Bank. Agencies often work with limited resources, so for us to be able to offer these types of grants is huge for our agencies and can really impact the number of people they can serve.

The funds will go toward increasing and improving the distribution process.

We Equipped Officers For Success In The Field

The Division of Probation & Parole empowered officers to more comprehensively manage their own clients, while alleviating the strain on local law enforcement. In the Arrest Team program, probation and parole officers took classes with university police academy trainers, building skills needed to make safe arrests. In late 2021 and early 2022, training was extended to two more regions, and an additional 48 officers joined the arrest team. Since the programs 2020 inception, 727 arrests have been made, with 577 of them taking place in 2022. On nine occasions, controlled substances were seized and turned over to police.

We Became International Role Models

All year team members were invited to conferences, meetings and collaborations throughout the United States to share insights and successes with fellow corrections professionals. We also garnered worldwide attention when the multilingual, international criminal justice publication Justice Trends magazine highlighted MODOC accomplishments with the cover story “The Staff at the Heart of the Missouri Corrections Culture Transformation.” The piece describes how creating a better environment using tools such as The Corrections Way yields not only better workplaces but also safer communities.

Also Check: Mid Ohio Food Bank Location

We Modernized Our Training Systems

In 2022, the department launched a new learning management system designed to streamline staff training and development. Called the Department of Corrections Guide to Professional Success, or DOC.GPS, the system serves as an innovative, automated tool for managing in-seat and online training. Staff can access a monitoring dashboard, view their own training records, and receive notifications when training has been completed or is overdue. Through DOC.GPS, staff also can track their own progress, browse elective offerings, complete surveys, print certificates and connect directly with MO Learning. A course catalog, learning paths and announcements tailored to each staff member’s training needs help guide learners toward career success.

Things The Missouri Department Of Corrections Did In 2022

Sikeston Jaycees Mission to Serve

In 2022, the Missouri Department of Corrections launched innovations that helped make life better for teammates, clients, incarcerated Missourians and the communities we serve. We deepened our commitment to staff training, wellness and mental health. We transformed facilities and streamlined services. We educated and inspired people inside and outside our work sites. We even united families. Here are just a few highlights:

Recommended Reading: San Francisco Marin Food Bank Volunteer

Southeast Missouri Food Bank Awards Grants To 5 Partner Agencies

SIKESTON, Mo. The Southeast Missouri Food Bank awarded a total of $10,000 to five of its partner agencies across its 16-county service area.

The funds will allow the agencies to increase and improve their distribution process.

Grants were awarded to:

Jesus In Disguise Pantry in Benton
Christ Episcopal Church in Cape Girardeau
Advance UMC in Advance
Clearwater Ministerial Alliance in Piedmont
Open Door Food Pantry in Holcomb

All partner agencies of the food bank were invited to submit a request for a maximum of $3,000 with information on what would be purchased and how it would allow them to better serve their communities.

The grants were used to purchase things like new shelving and freezers that will allow the agencies to be more efficient in distributions and increase their storage capacity.

Southeast Missouri Food Bank serves more than 70,000 individuals each month through a network of 140 partner agencies and other programs. The food banks 16-county service area has some of the highest rates of hunger in the state, where one in six families and one in five children are food insecure.

We Paraded Through Missouri Streets

To both celebrate our presence in local communities and invite more Missourians to join our team, this year corrections staff marched in parades throughout the state. Corrections Emergency Response Team members, search-dog teams and staff from Farmington and Potosi took part in the 2022 Farmington Regional Chamber of Commerce Country Days Parade and, joined by Potosi Puppies for Parole, the Austin Moses Parade. The Western Region Honor Guard and the Chillicothe Correctional Center C.E.R.T. represented in the Chillicothe Home of Sliced Bread Parade. Womens Eastern Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center staff rode in the Vandalia Lighted Christmas Parade. Southeast Correctional Center team members took part in Sikeston’s Dashing through Downtown Parade of Lights.Fulton staff joined fellow first responders in the Fulton Emergency Vehicle Parade and Shop With a Hero event. Team members from Missouri Eastern, Northeast and Western Missouri correctional centers, as well as Central Office, joined forces in a show of support for the community and our staff in the St. Louis Grand Pride Parade. And on a smaller scale, staff and offenders at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center held an on-site breast cancer walk to support cancer survivors and their families.

Also Check: Food Bank Salt Lake City Ut

We Hosted Celebrity Visits

In 2022, TV stars, artists, musicians, chefs, motivational speakers and other celebrities visited Missouri Department of Corrections facilities to inspire offenders and staff. Reality TV star Duane Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter, who spent time in Texas prisons, spoke to offenders at Western Missouri Correctional Center as part of an Expected End Ministries tour. Top-rated celebrity chef, restaurateur and author Keith Corbin, who spent a decade in California prisons, visited Transition Center of Kansas City residents to share his story and his memoir, California Soul: An American Epic of Cooking and Survival, with men on probation and parole. Howard University College of Medicine professor and endocrinologist Dr. Stan Andrisse, a former Missouri offender, shared his story and memoir, From Prison Cells to PhD: It Is Never Too Late to Do Good, with Transition Center of St. Louis residents. United Nations art ambassador Ibiyinka Alao, a world-renowned Nigerian artist, gave a presentation at Jefferson City Correctional Center , led offender-artists in an art therapy workshop and met with JCCC staff from Nigeria and other West African countries he also presented to staff and community partners at the ARCHS Missouri Reentry Conference. Motivational Speaker and former Missouri offender Ricky Johnson Jr. led workshops at Eastern Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center and Missouri Eastern Correctional Center .

Grantee Highlight: Southeast Missouri Food Bank

For the month of May, the J.R. Albert Foundation is highlighting the work of Southeast Missouri Food Bank in Sikeston, MO.

Founded in 1985 and operating in the poverty-stricken Mississippi Delta area of Missouri, Southeast Missouri Food Bank is all too familiar with the faces of hunger.

The 16 counties they cover is home to more than 370,000 people where one out of six households and one out of five children there are considered food insecure. Using its network of 140 member agencies, SEMO helps feed 60,000 children, seniors, veterans and families each month.

In March, the food bank witnessed firsthand how quickly the coronavirus affected the region. Unemployment soared as the closure of restaurants, manufacturers, retail stores and small businesses led to laid off workers throughout the region. School closures cut off free and reduced meal programs for students in need. The 60,000 people the food bank served every month prior to COVID-19 nearly doubled in a matter of weeks. Pantries that helped 200-300 families a month in January and February served more than 600 in March.

The economic fallout of COVID-19 has affected the entire nation so were all trying to secure the same resources, and its driving up costs and lead times, said Joey Keys, president and CEO of Southeast Missouri Food Bank. Thats why navigating this response is more unique and challenging than any other disaster any of us have ever dealt with.

You May Like: Food Bank Of Northwest Louisiana

We Measurably Boosted Staff Morale

Our much-needed focus on staff got results. Developed to provide a better understanding of organizational health, the quarterly pulse survey completed by state employees monitors state agencies’ efforts to make improvements. Since 2018, the Missouri Department of Corrections has experienced a higher rate of improvement than any other state agency in nearly every QPS category, and survey results show overall gains of 16-21% in areas such as direction, leadership, accountability, motivation and external orientation. In some areas, such as strategic clarity and supportive leadership, improvements were as high as 46%. Between 2021 and 2022, results continued to improve in all areas, including accountability , external orientation and motivation .

We Invested In Infrastructure

In 2022, the department initiated projects that shore up our facilities, tools and equipment. These undertakings include preventative maintenance contracts for major operating systems replacement of radios, cameras and video storage systems broadband expansion for all prisons water and wastewater infrastructure upgrades and capital improvement projects for repair and maintenance of roofs, windows, concrete, asphalt, HVAC systems and more.

We Expanded Recruitment And Retention

After overhauling staff recruitment in 2021, we revved up our efforts this year, with statewide multifaceted multimedia ad campaigns popup job booths extension of the staff recruitment incentive payment to additional job types and part-time positions and a statewide Recruiting the Future recruitment and retention competition that ended with three facilities staffed at 100%. The efforts paid off. Between January and November, monthly correctional officer applications increased by more than 200%, and 2022 total new hires exceeded the 2021 total by 23%.

We Adopted A New Mail Procedure

Southeast Missouri High School Football – Sikeston VS Dexter

In 2022 we took steps to help streamline mail delivery and shut down one pipeline for dangerous contraband. Offender personal postal mail is now sent to a mail processing center. There, the mail is digitally scanned and delivered electronically to offenders media players. This new procedure helps to prevent drugs and other dangerous contraband from entering facilities through personal mail. It helps reduce the workload and potential danger of exposure for mailroom staff. It also streamlines the mail delivery service correspondence is delivered directly to the recipient, even during transfers.

Recommended Reading: Second Harvest Food Bank Staff

We Made New Strides In Mental Health

The department deepened our commitment to supporting staff wellness and addressing staff trauma. In May and October 2022, we held the first two session of the Post Critical Incident Seminar , a three-day intensively focused therapeutic event designed to help corrections staff experiencing traumatic stress following involvement in a serious incident. Participants rated the event 9.4 on a 10-point scale and credited the experience with changing, or even saving, their lives. We launched the first phase of the nations first corrections-based Zero Suicide initiative, a framework used to create a culture of safer suicide care and reduce the number of suicides. We held Critical Incident Stress Management training using the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation model, ensuring every part of the state has a CISM-trained corrections professional ready to help staff in a crisis. At Moberly Correctional Center, we also created a staff decompression space, a designated area where staff can collect themselves after a traumatic event, unwind after a long shift, or take care of their personal needs during overtime shifts or inclement weather.

We Reopened A Correctional Center

Thanks to a decline in Missouris prison population, in 2022 the department was able to transfer operations from Western Missouri Correctional Center to Crossroads Correctional Center , which had been offline since 2019. A smaller and more modern facility, CRCC provides for better staffing coverage, helping to reduce the strain on corrections professionals working in the facility. In advance of the move, CRCC held a family day so staff members loved ones could tour the facility. As we enter 2022, were converting WMCC into a training center, where staff can get hands-on experience in an environment that mirrors their future worksites.

You May Like: Can I Donate Expired Food

We Brought Families Together

Two mid-Missouri prisons launched honor visits in 2022, giving qualifying residents of Algoa Correctional Center and Moberly Correctional Center the opportunity to visit with their families inside the facilities recreation yards or gym, where they could share meals, play games with their kids, take walks in the sun and reconnect as a family outside the confines of the visiting room. ACCs Family Restoration Visits are part of the Honor Status program that launched in April with the opening of an honor dorm housing 92 men selected for their conduct and commitment to personal development. MCCs Family Forward visits grew from a recommendation by an offender innovation council participating in the grant-funded Prison Research and Innovation Network , which works to improve the lives of people working or living in prisons through research-based innovations. The programs incentivize pro-social behaviors, motivating more offenders to strive for eligibility after the ACC program was established, conduct violations facility-wide dropped by more than 1,000 compared to the same time last year. In addition, Boonville Correctional Center continued its Empowering Dads Embracing Fatherhood program, in which kids get to spend one-on-one time with their dads on special visit days, and this year BCC offenders held a fundraiser to help support it.