Lake of the Ozarks West Chamber

 We're nearing the holiday season and you know what that means, special times and memories with families and friends. However, the holidays are not such a joyous time for all, some in the community are not as fortunate and as such are in need of a little extra assistance every now and then. The holiday season is a fantastic time for you to volunteer or donate some of your time, energy, or resources to help brighten a person in need. In this week's blog, the Lake West Chamber is proud to feature a few non-profit organizations that you can assist to help make this holiday season special for those in need in your community. Ivy Bend Food Shelter Ivy Bend Food Shelter was established in 1994 by Donna Allen and her daughter Tanna. The initial goal was to help their neighbors by gathering food from family and friends, then sharing it with those in need. After seeing the huge need for food in the community they approached Second Harvest ( currently The Columbia Food Bank) for additio...

The holiday season is right around the corner. This is the time of the year that you can donate time or money to help families in need. In this week’s blog, we will feature a few non-profit organizations in the Lake area that could use volunteers to help make the holidays special for several people in our community.  Share the Harvest  In 2004 a group of volunteers opened a Youth Center in Greenview to serve the West Side of the Lake in Camden County. It quickly became apparent that there was also a big need for food for the youth and their families. In 2005, Share the Harvest Food Pantry and Thrift Store was established by a community group that recognized a need to provide food to families and was dedicated to addressing the need. In the first month, Share the Harvest Food Pantry served 100. Realizing resources were not enough to sustain the pantry, the thrift store was opened in order to provide income to help sustain the pantry. In 2007, Share the Harvest...