Friend of Manna Food Center
We are officially in food holiday season, as Thanksgiving rapidly approaches— even though it falls pretty late in the month this year. November is traditionally Manna's busiest month as those who struggle to make ends meet turn to us for good food in welcoming spaces. The community, too, turns to Manna to find ways to give food and donate time so that tens of thousands of neighbors have happy holidays.
This year more than most, Manna is focused on achieving
"Food for All"
as we recently announced an ambitious campaign to secure $2.5 million in donations to expand our facilities, increase our staffing, and build our capacity to reach 10,000 new neighbors in need by the end of 2020. Food for All is the name of that campaign, but it is much more.
Food for All is the philosophy that guides what we do every day here at Manna. It is the principle that propelled the creation of the market and collaboration space in East County and the renovation of our Gaithersburg distribution center. When visitors and participants enter our spaces, they come in direct contact with our professional staff and dedicated volunteers, who embody our mission.
Food for All means that a hungry preschooler and her mother in Fairland can visit our new state-of-the-art choice market in Silver Spring and select the food they need to nourish their bodies and souls without having to traverse the county for hours on a bus. Food for All means a recently laid-off handyman in Germantown will have access to more fresh produce and meat because Manna has improved its storage and distribution systems. Food for All means a disabled senior citizen in Wheaton can learn how to prepare inexpensive nutritious meals at a convenient class in our collaboration spaces.
Food for All represents an entire community banding together to ensure all who struggle with hunger will have access to healthy food, education, and community building. In the stories of this newsletter you will see the results our campaign is already having. I hope you will join us in these inspiring and invigorating efforts. Take a place at our table! Visit
mannafoodforall.org
to learn about our campaign and donate.
Also be assured of the gratitude of our Board, staff, and participants who know that you make our mission possible no matter what the season.
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Ingredients for Change with Chef Jose Andres
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Last month, renowned chef and humanitarian Jose Andrés addressed students at the Universities at Shady Grove as part of
USG’s Civic Engagement Series, "Ingredients for Change
". Manna Food Center's CEO Jackie DeCarlo spoke to the audience about food insecurity in Montgomery County and how to be part of the solutions.
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ONE Weekend, TWO Celebrations!
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More than 500 people joined us for our weekend celebrations.
Manna Food Center welcomed the community to our new Manna Market in East County on Saturday, October 19. Our guest speakers included U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, County Executive Marc Elrich, Delagate Lorig Charkoudian, and Anne Hargrave from the Community Foundation. Many local, county, and state leaders also joined us for tours of our facility and to enjoy the festive community block party. Thank you to Cigna for providing free health screenings, United Healthcare for the bouncy house and cotton candy, and to our food truck vendors and community table participants.
On Sunday, October 20 we opened up our renovated warehouse to showcase how local and state support has transformed our warehouse into a state-of-the-art distribution hub. Guest speakers included State Senator Cheryl Kagan, County Council Vice President Sidney Katz, Councilmember Gabe Albornoz, and City of Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman.
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Yom Kippur Food Drive
A Win for Neighbors in Need
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A Message from Board Chair Mitchell Glassman on Manna's Yom Kippur Food Drive
I would like to extend a hearty
Mazel tov
to Temple Beth Ami on winning the first annual Manna Food Center “Harvest Against Hunger” competition between Adat Shalom, Temple Beth Ami, and Kol Shalom. However, the big winners are our local neighbors in need who will benefit from the food collected by our congregants.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for working with Manna and making it possible to fill our new warehouse with nutritious food inventory.
The Yom Kippur food drive netted
31,198 pounds of food
, a 7.5% increase over last year.
Want to host a food drive for Manna?
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Tis' the Season to Give
Giving Tuesday and Tips for End of Year Giving
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Giving Tuesday - December 3
- is a global giving day to make a local impact. Celebrate generosity and help us feed hope for thousands of children and families in Montgomery County.
There are more than 63,000 people who don’t know where their next meal will come from – 33,000 are children. This year, we want to raise $20,000 on Giving Tuesday to expand our reach to neighbors in need across the County.
Mark you calendars to join us on Giving Tuesday, December 3,
to help feed families this holiday season.
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Shop with Amazon Smile and give back to Manna!
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Rebecca Rothey, Vice President of Development and Senior Philanthropic Advisor at The Community Foundation, shares helpful tips for maximizing giving and making an impact on your community.
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Manny has been busy this past month! In October, we have had
26 Mobile Kitchen classes
, 4 Pop-Up Pantries, and showcased Manny at our Manna Market Community Block Party.
Our classes were held at Sally K Ride ES, Waters Landing ES, Germantown ES, Spring Parc Apartments, Parc at Woodlake Apartments, and even Mill Creek Towne ES for a parent class! Participants have prepared and tasted delicious and nutritious recipes on Manny such as a Mediterranean Whole Grain Pasta Salad, a Lemon and Garlic Massaged Kale, and a Vegetarian Sweet Potato Chili, just to name a few.
Manny has also been around the county for Pop-Ups providing fresh produce at various locations such as ESYDA, Montgomery Housing Partnership (Glenville), and Seneca Heights Apartments. We were able to partner with Mercy Clinic to provide food demos and samples at a Pop-Up Pantry as well. We can’t wait to finish off November strong before Manny goes on “winter break”!
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Have You Read Our 2019 Annual Report?
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Whether dealing with a Federal government shut-down or convening conversations on racial equity and social justice, our vision of a county where everyone lives in dignity and no one goes hungry remains steadfast. This year we reached 34,250 neighbors by distributing 3.1 million pounds of nutritious food while also educating students of all ages through Manny, our “kitchen on wheels.”
We are also committed to strengthening those communities in partnership with organizations that share our values.
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4 Tips for Healthy Holiday Eating
by Cynthia Wilson
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The holidays are coming up and one of the most notable (and best!) attributes of this season is all the yummy food that isn't necessarily good for us. How can we enjoy some of the great food and still keep our health intact?
Tip #1
Mentally commit to eating a little bit better than you did last year. This could be eating a little less or a little more of the healthy stuff that is provided. If you commit to it mentally you are more likely to follow through physically.
Tip #2
Take a favorite food and add some health benefits to it. Maybe in the mashed potatoes you experiment with adding mashed cauliflower or add a few dashes of turmeric to your mac and cheese. Most of the time you won't even notice a difference and you just boosted the health factor of that food.
Tip #3
Eat throughout the day instead of starving up until the meal. This way you may not feel the need to eat as much since you're not as hungry. One thing I try to keep in mind, and this may not work if you have a huge family that you spend the holidays with, is that the food will not disappear if I don't eat it at that second. You can always put away what you did not have time or room to eat.
Tip #4
Get your veggies in early. Start your meal off with a salad, soup, or veggie plate so that you know you've eaten your veggies. When you feel satisfied you don't have to worry that you didn't eat anything health because that was the first thing you did.
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Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
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Ingredients:
- 16 oz frozen Cauliflower, steamed
- 2 teaspoons of Garlic Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
- 1 cup Asiago Cheese, shredded
- 2 tablespoons Sour Cream
- Butter (optional)
Directions
- Steam cauliflower until softened.
- Place cooked cauliflower into blender, food processor, or bowl to mash.
- Add garlic powder, half of the Asiago cheese, sour cream, and salt, and pepper to cauliflower.
- Mash or blend until mixture reaches preferred texture (lumpy or smooth)
- Place cauliflower mixture into to tin and sprinkle remaining cheese on top and broil until golden brown.
- Serve with butter, chives, or any other topping.
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Breaking Bread - November 20
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Be part of our ongoing conversation about new solutions to ending the experience of food insecurity in Montgomery County.
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Available Volunteer Opportunities
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Want to be a Manna Market Volunteer?
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We are excited to announce that Manna’s Market in Silver Spring has opened! We are currently scheduling individual volunteers to volunteer as Market Volunteers
and Market Reception Volunteers. There are weekday, weeknight and some weekend shifts.
Market Volunteers
will help our participants in the market and assist in restocking shelves.
Volunteer must be 16 or older or 14 and older with a parent
.
This opportunity is now open to small groups (up to 5 volunteers) during the daytime!
Market Reception Volunteers
will primarily help to greet, check-in, and schedule participants through our Salesforce database.
Volunteer must be 18 or older and be able to commit to a weekly schedule.
Please contact the Volunteer Manager,
katie@mannafood.org
for a full description of activities and available shifts.
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12301 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring
Bi-lingual Spanish, French, Amharic and Haitian skills are a plus.
Office volunteers (18 years of age or older) support our referral program which enables participants/clients to receive food from us. Volunteers receive referral information by phone, fax, and email and input it into our participant database. This allow us to determine how many boxes need to be prepared each day and create a sign-in/out sheet for client pick-up.
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Food Runners
Join Community Food Rescue (CFR), Montgomery County's network for food recovery. Help deliver rescued food to area shelters.
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Nutrition
Volunteers
Manna's free nutrition programming makes crucial health information more accessible to communities in need. You can help fight hunger and learn new skills as a nutrition education volunteer!
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A Heartfelt Thank You to Our Donors
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We extend a warm and sincere THANK YOU to all of the organizations and businesses that have donated food and funds between September 16, 2019 - October 15, 2019.
Without your incredible generosity, we would not be able to feed families in our community.
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Access Intelligence
Adat Shalom Congregation
Alice Shaver Foundation
APA Inc.
Beth Shalom Congregation
Bethesda Central Farmers' Market
Bethesda Chevy Chase Jewish Community Group
Bethesda Co-Op
Bethesda Jewish Congregation
B'nai Israel Congregation
Box Associates Limited Partnership
Capital Area Food Bank
Central Farm Markets at Westfield Montgomery Mall
Century Distributors, Inc.
Chinmaya Mission Washington Regional Center
Christ the Servant Lutheran Church
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
City of Gaithersburg
City of Rockville
Clinton AME Zion Church
Congregation Beth El
Congregation Har Shalom
Congregation Or Chadash
DC Metro Sai Samsthan
Emmanuel Lutheran Church
First Fruits Farm
Giant Food
H. Beck, Inc.
Harris Teeter
Hermon Presbyterian Church
Imperfect Produce
Kaiser Permanente
Kehila Chadasha
Kol Shalom Congregation
Larry E. Paul Certified Financial Planner
Leisure World
Machar Congregation
Maryland WIC Program
Medstar Montgomery Medical Center
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Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union
Montgomery County
Montgomery County Master Gardeners
Montgomery County Master Gardeners
Montgomery County Road Runners
Norman's Farm Markets
Olney Farmers & Artists' Market
Olney Help
Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.
Potomac Presbyterian Church
Primary Care Coalition of Montgomery County, MD, Inc.
Redland Baptist Church
Response Tech
Restoration Church
Rockville Farmers' Market
Rockville Presbyterian Church
Roots
Safeway
SCUP Conference
Shirat HaNefesh
Silver Spring Presbyterian Church
Sodexo
Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation Inc.
State of Maryland
TD Charitable Foundation
Temple Beth Ami
Temple Emanuel
Temple Shalom
The 1966 Charitable Trust
The Goddard School
Tikvat Israel Congregation
Trader Joe's
True Buddha Temple Maryland
Twinbrook Baptist Church
Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville
Wagner's Meats, LLC
Wegmans
Whole Foods Market
WIC
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If you're interested in donating food, making a financial contribution, or volunteering, please contact us at 301-424-1130 or
info@mannafood.org
.
Manna Food Center Office & Market
12301 Old Columbia Pike
Suite 200
Silver Spring, MD 20904
Manna Food Center Warehouse
9311 Gaither Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
Remember to support Manna through your workplace giving campaign.
United Way # 8846 - CFC # 23028
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