Manna Facts & Statistics

• Manna Food Center feeds about 3,300 hungry families in Montgomery County each month. Half of the people we serve are children.
• With the help of the community, Manna Food Center collects and distributes more than 3 million pounds of food annually. To put that in perspective, an average grocery bag weighs about 10 pounds.
• Manna Food Center provides each household with 70 pounds of emergency and supplemental food - a three to five day supply - once a month. Clients are referred to Manna from 360 community agencies including social service organizations, schools, faith based organizations, the Department of Health and Human Services, doctors, hospitals, and more. Community food drives provide much of the non-perishable food Manna gives to families.
• Through Smart Sacks, Manna provides kid-friendly food to thousands of elementary students in Montgomery County each month. Every Friday the students receive a backpack full of nutritious food to ensure that they have food on the weekends when there are no school meals to nourish them.
• Hunger is a hidden but all too prevalent problem in our county. In Montgomery County, a family of four requires an income of $70,000 just to be minimally self-sufficient. The high costs of housing, health care, food, transportation, and utilities are squeezing more and more families. When funds are low, the rent, doctor, and utility companies get paid first and what's left is what people spend on food; often there just isn't enough money to buy the food their family needs.

Here are a few phenomenal statistics about what Manna accomplished in FY 2010:

• Households Served via Food For Families Distribution: 35,908
• Individuals Served via Food For Families Distribution: 103,335
• Smart Sacks Distributed to Elementary School Children: 47,467
• Pounds of Food Donated by Grocery Stores and Wholesalers: 1,099,976
• Pounds of Food Donated by Community Members: 620,713
• Total Pounds of Food Distributed: 3,317,499
• Number of Volunteer Hours Given by the Community: 34,000