LINN — More than a dozen people from various agencies attended the public Community Kick-Off meeting held by Central Missouri Community Action (CMCA) at the Osage County Library last Wednesday.

Speakers from CMCA outlined their “Show Me Strong Communities” Osage County Action Plan, which is a nearly year-long collaboration between CMCA and community stakeholders.

“This isn’t about Central Missouri Community Action doing the work,” said Erica Schmidt, CMCA’s director of development and communications. “It’s about communities taking responsibility for the things they think are important.”

With funding from the Missouri Foundation for Health, CMCA and local stakeholders held meetings to determine a primary need in Osage County where action would result in measurable results. The goal they selected was for all people in Osage County to experience health and well-being.

Stakeholders determined the root causes for food and health insecurity in Osage County to include lack of knowledge about health resources, the perceived stigma of asking for help, lack of transportation and access, changes in eligibility for public assistance programs, and lack of knowledge of health costs. Stakeholders then chose two strategies to address health and food insecurity.

The first strategy is to establish partnerships to create a mobile food pantry in Osage County. After reaching out to the central food pantry, they were told that, due to a decrease in donations, the central food pantry is no longer accepting new partner agencies.

That was a setback, but the organization plans to help community members representing local churches, social service organizations, and health clinics contact the food bank to express the need for a food pantry in our community, and to present data supporting that position.

“So, with all that being said, it’s still not done. We’re still not off our feet yet, but yet, we’re still not defeated either,” said Community Organizer Jenn Millard.

In the interim, CMCA is working with The Community Partnership to provide food under a USDA LFPA grant. Several food distributions have already taken place in Osage County. The next will be a free fresh meat distribution tomorrow (Thursday) at the Osage County Library from 2 to 6:30 p.m., or while supplies last. 

The second strategy for improving health security is to strengthen the resource network in Osage County. The plan is to collaborate with local service providers to raise awareness of local programs through resource fairs, resource guides, and social media.

To aid in that, there will be an Osage County Community Helpers Meet & Greet resource meeting at the Osage County Library at 9 a.m., on Thursday, May 16. During that meeting, committees will be formed to approach various issues.

“This is where the real work begins,” said Executive Director Darin Preis. “And it takes all of you in this room and many, more, to take those steps and really organize it so that you’re creating timelines, (and) establishing who’s responsible for what, and holding each other accountable. That’s where the change happens.”