Mana Food Center
Since its humble founding in 1983, Manna Food Center has become a multi-faceted organization that distributes over 12,000 pounds of food a day, educates the community about healthy eating, and helps connect county residents with the services they need to flourish. Manna funds our Farm to School CSA program, and helps us organize gleaning groups to harvest excess produce from our fields.
Community Farm Share
Birthed out of the COVID pandemic, Community Farm Share has a 2-part mission: feed hungry people fresh food, and pay local farmers a fair price for their work. CFS operates mobile farmers markets that distribute produce in neighborhoods that are considered food deserts, sends bags of fresh produce to families at area elementary schools, and coordinates a “veggie Rx” program where doctors prescribe patients fresh, local produce.
“So What Else Can We Do To Help?”
So What Else: Originally founded as an after-school program for at-risk youth, So What Else made an immediate pivot into the food assistance world at the start of the COVID pandemic. Since then, they have taken their motto (“So What Else can we do to help?”) seriously, expanding their food assistance operations to help meet the growing needs in our county. We donate to SWE regularly, and have even taken groups of staff and volunteers to help out at their weekly food distributions.
AfriThrive
AfriThrive: Dedicated to helping immigrant and minority families survive and thrive in Montgomery County, AfriThrive offers food assistance, business development assistance, financial literacy training, and more. AfriThrive also has a farm where they grow produce that is culturally relevant to the African diaspora. We have given many of our gleaned sweet potato greens to AfriThrive —a nutritious vegetable that is not well known in our culture, but very popular across the African continent.
Community Food Rescue
A program of Manna, Community Food Rescue is like a dating service for food pantries. Donors who have food to share list their offerings, and food pantries claim them. Then, volunteer drivers transport the food from the donor to the food pantry. CFR helps our county make great strides in reducing food waste, while alleviating 2 major pain points for food pantries: sourcing and transportation.
Clarksburg Community Assistance Network
Clarksburg Community Assistance Network: Operating out of a church basement in Clarksburg, CCAN is a small food pantry that operates monthly. Because of their small size, the all-volunteer staff gets to know their clients, welcoming and helping them with the warmth and care of old friends. We donate produce to CCAN every month, and have volunteered with them (along with some CSA members!) several times.
