MANNA FoodBank staff and volunteers delivered the organization’s millionth MANNA Pack for Kids to Jonathan Valley Elementary School in Waynesville on Friday, Feb. 19.
The MANNA Packs for Kids program provides emergency food assistance to public school students throughout the 16 counties MANNA FoodBank serves. Ten years ago, Beth Stahl, youth programs manager for MANNA, started a partnership with Oakley Elementary School in Asheville to deliver the very first MANNA Pack to a child in need. That year, MANNA distributed a grand total of 50 bags of food through the program.
The packs ensure that the children of Western North Carolina who depend on free and reduced school breakfast and lunch will also have food when they are not at school over weekends and school breaks. Now Stahl works with MANNA’s network of MANNA Packs partners and volunteers, distributing over 4,800 packs every week in partnership with 149 schools across Western North Carolina.
