Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) — March 14, 2025 — Arvest Bank is continuing its fight against hunger with its 15th annual Million Meals campaign, which will officially kick off on April 1 and end on May 31.
Million Meals is Arvest’s largest community service initiative. Since its inception, they have raised more than 25 million meals and collected more than $4.5 million in monetary donations. The money raised goes directly to their 80-plus food partners in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. Partners include the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas, which further distributes the food to smaller food pantries, local schools and churches, and more.
In 2024, the campaign raised more than 2.6 million meals and collected more than $524,000 in donations.
In recognition of its 15th anniversary, Barber said Arvest Bank wants to increase its impact by 15%, which means 15% more meals and 15% more support for families facing food insecurity.
“We launched it because we realized that in all of our four-state footprint, it’s a deed,” she said. “There’s food insecurity and in every market that we are in. There are issues with that. Arkansans rank first in the nation in food insecurity so, and we do it this time of the year because it’s getting close to summer when the kids are out of school and they’re not going to receive the free or reduced lunches like they do during the school year, so we try to help them gear up for the need in the summer.”
Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas development officer Chrissy Holbrook agreed, noting that one in four kids in Arkansas, specifically in Northeast Arkansas, struggle with food insecurity.
“The exact number we have is 74,210 people in Northeast Arkansas are food insecure. That is 19.9% of our population, just in Northeast Arkansas,” Holbrook said. “Food insecurity is lack of access to healthy, nutritious meals. Essentially, we live in a food desert in most of the counties that we serve. For example, Lawrence County has one big grocery store, which is in Walnut Ridge. So, we live in this big agriculture community, which is amazing, our farmers are amazing, but then we don’t have access to healthy nutritious food at a grocery store, that’s 10 minutes down the road.”
There are multiple ways to donate, including: in person at a bank location or food bank, over the phone at (866) 952-9523, on the Arvest app, on the Million Meals | Arvest Bank website and through a QR code.