Smart Sacks

In 2005, Manna founded the Smart Sacks initiative which partners Manna, businesses and organizations, and elementary schools. Together we provide the children with backpacks full of kid-friendly food every Friday so they have food on the weekends when there are no school meals to sustain them.

The Smart Sacks program currently operates in more than 40 elementary schools, feeding nearly 1,400 children each week. Smart Sacks is a perfect example of how a community comes together to solve a problem. Business and community organizations, Manna, and elementary schools work collaboratively to help children at risk of hunger. Children who participate in Smart Sacks are better able to succeed in school. Teachers have remarked that children come to school on Mondays full of energy that they lacked before participating in Smart Sacks. An unanticipated but welcome outcome of Smart Sacks is that parents of children in the Smart Sacks program are more involved in their children's schools. Smart Sacks is an important component to breaking the cycle of hunger and poverty and provides children with the opportunity to learn and succeed at school.

We are grateful to each of our partner organizations and schools who make this program possible.

Altum (Meadow Hall Elementary School)
American Speech and Hearing Association (Falls Mead Elementary School)
Anonymous RN's (Burtonsville Elementary School)
Blair High School (Piney Branch Elementary School)
Bethesda United Methodist Church (Highland View Elementary School)
Calvert Group (East Silver Spring Elementary School)
Chevy Chase Trust (Sargant Shriver Elementary School)
CHI Centers, Inc./The Jones Handwork Center (Summit Hall Elementary School)
Choice Hotels International (New Hampshire Estates & Oakview Elementary Schools)
Colombo Bank (Highland Elementary School)
EU Services (Maryvale Elementary School)
GEICO (Arcola Elementary School)
Girl Scouts Service Unit 33-7 (Takoma Park Elementary School)
The Goddard Schools (Fields Road Elementary School)
Grace Community Church (Jackson Road Elementary School)
Healthy Directions (Twinbrook Elementary School)
Klinger & Associates (McAuliffe Elementary School)
Melvin J Berman Hebrew Academy (Harmony Hills Elementary School)
Millian Memorial United Methodist Church (Wheaton Woods Elementary School)
Montgomery College Germantown (Fox Chapel Elementary School)
Montgomery College Rockville (College Garden & Beall Elementary Schools)
Montgomery College Takoma Park (Broad Acres Elementary School)
Nauticon Imaging Systems (Rachel Carson Elementary School)
Pandini's (Waters Landing Elementary School)
Project Change (Olney & Belmont Elementary Schools)
RFI Foundation (Montgomery Knolls Elementary School)
Saint Mark Presbyterian Church
Saint Matthew Presbyterian (Bel Pre Elementary School)
SEEC (Sligo Creek Elementary School)
Sodexo (Washington Grove Elementary School)
TeraTech (Georgian Forest Elementary School)
TBD (Watkins Mill Elementary School)
The Little Eastern Families (Rolling Terrace Elementary School)
Tzu Ching Collegiate Youth Group
United Health Group (Gaithersburg Elementary School)
URS Corporation (Rosemont Elementary School)
Wheaton Area Moms (Glen Haven Elementary School)
White Flint Self Storage (Viers Mill Elementary School)
Whole Foods Market
Woodlin Elementary School PTA (Pine Crest Elementary School)