Manna Food Bank | Fighting Hunger In America

Give back, donate, volunteer, help – these are all things we want to do but sometimes neglect to make the time .  On Green Nature Marketing’s recent trip to Asheville, NC we were blessed with a healthy reminder of how spending a little bit of time can make such a big difference.

Manna Food Bank is located  in Asheville and services over 16 counties in Western North Carolina. Through a volunteer program Green Nature Marketing, along with members from our brand community, were able to volunteer time and donate food. This effort, will help Manna exceed their 2013 totals of 12.8 million pounds of food distributed through some 211 community-based food assistant agencies. Manna’s mission like so many of ours is to involve, educate, and unite people. Whether it be for ending hunger, diverting waste, or bringing exposure to healthier food and beverages, education is always the key.

So what did we learn? We learned that we live in a country that wastes billions of pounds of food, more than enough to feed every hungry man, woman, and child in America. In Western North Carolina alone 1 in 4 kids are food insecure, 73% live at or below poverty level, and 25% of households have at least one family member in poor health which reduces their income for proper medications or healthier food. Manna served 107,600 unique clients in 2013, and even more concerning their “MANNA Packs” program reached over 4600 kids in 132 different schools. Manna’s outreach is not what is concerning, it’s that over 4600 kids in just 16 counties have little to no source of food over the weekend. Thats’ right, their only food source is at school. This issue is not unique to Western North Carolina, food insecurity is in every county and state in America!

We applaud Manna and the surrounding communities in the Western North Carolina area that volunteer, donate, and raise money to support Manna’s operation.   We also appreciate the support from our Brand partners; Seapoint Farms, Mary’s Gone Crackers, Beanfield’s, Organic Valley, and Clif Bar & Co. who volunteered time and/or donated food samples.  What a great sense of accomplishment!! One that we hope travels back to our home towns and continues to push us to be more involved with helping in our local communities! Enjoy the images from a great day serving those in need.