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MISSOURI – You are helping to redefine hunger relief right here in America. In a bright new facility in Springfield, Missouri, your support is helping a new kind of outreach to take root through the power of innovative agriculture. Towers filled with lush produce stretch toward the ceiling, nearly ready for harvest. This is GATHER—Operation Blessing’s latest effort to tackle hunger in America.
“We created GATHER because hunger in America has become too quiet and too accepted,” shared David Edson, director of hunger relief programs. “GATHER is a movement to bring help and hope to a hurting world, starting right here in America.”
Scaling Solutions with Innovative Agriculture
A key part of the solution is Flex-Farms—hydroponic systems capable of producing more than 400 pounds of food each year. Just over a month after planting the first seeds, David and his team celebrated their first harvest. “It’s pretty incredible how much food we are able to grow in such a small space.”
Hydroponic systems like those at GATHER use 90 percent less water than traditional farming, making them both efficient and environmentally sustainable. By utilizing innovative agriculture, the team can maximize yields while minimizing the footprint on local resources. Fresh produce remains one of the hardest items for food-insecure families to access.
Bringing Fresh Food Directly to the Community
“Our solution to that was to grow food in the heart of the community in need. To be able to harvest and distribute food to those people within the same day,” David said. Nearly one in eight households in America face food insecurity—they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. In Springfield, those rates are even higher.
David sees this pilot location as just the beginning of a larger mission involving innovative agriculture. “What we build will become the blueprint for a national movement—one that churches, partners, and neighbors can replicate across the country. ”And all this leads to lasting change. “Real transformation doesn’t happen when we hand out answers. It happens when we walk alongside people as they find their own.”
Thanks to compassionate friends like you, families in Springfield are beginning to experience that transformation, one fresh harvest at a time.
