Goldberg Smart Sacks

In 2005, Manna partnered with Whole Foods and the Montgomery County Public Schools to found the Smart Sacks initiative. Smart Sacks partners Manna, businesses and organizations, and elementary schools. The program grew immensely under the direction of Manna's Karen A. Goldberg, former Director of Smart Sacks. In October 2012, Karen passed away after a valiant fight with cancer. In her honor, Manna renamed the program she tended to as the Karen Goldberg Smart Sacks Program. 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 Goldberg Smart Sacks program currently operates in more than 50 elementary schools, feeding more than 1,600 children each week. The Goldberg Smart Sacks program 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 the Goldberg Smart Sacks program 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 the program. An unanticipated but welcome outcome of the program is that parents of children in the Goldberg Smart Sacks program are more involved in their children's schools. It 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.

The ARC of Montgomery County(Highland Elementary School)
Altum (Meadow Hall Elementary School)
American Speech and Hearing Association (Falls Mead Elementary School)
Anonymous RN's (Burtonsville Elementary School)
Asbury Methodist Village/Wilson Health Care Center (Gaithersburg Elementary School)
Bank of Maerica Merrill Lynch (Georgian Forest Elementary School)
Blair High School (Piney Branch Elementary School)
Bethesda United Methodist Church (Highland View Elementary School)
Breast Assured
Calvert Group (East Silver Spring Elementary School)
Chevy Chase Trust (Sargant Shriver Elementary School)
Choice Hotels International (New Hampshire Estates & Oakview Elementary Schools)
Church of the Resurrection (Greencastle Elementary School)
Colesville Presbyterian Church (Page Elementary School)
Epworth United Methodist Church (Rosemont Elementary School)
EU Services (Maryvale Elementary School)
First Alliance Church (Drew Elementary School)
Girl Scouts Service Unit 33-7 (Takoma Park Elementary School)
The Goddard Schools (Fields Road Elementary School)
Girl Scout Troop #3413 (Waters Landing Elementary School)
Grace Community Church (Jackson Road Elementary School)
growingSOUL (Cresthaven Elementary School)
The Guys & Gals Of Gist (Pine Crest Elementary School)
Hughes United Methodist Church (Weller Elementary School)
Layhill Community Church (Glenallan Elementary School)
The Little Eastern Families (Rolling Terrace Elementary School)
Lydia Circle @St. Paul's United Methodist Church (Rockview Elementary School)
Maryland Most Program (Twinbrook Elementary School)
Medical Science & Computing, Inc. (Fallsmead 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)
Potomac Valley Section - National Council of Negro Women (Cannon Road Elementary School)
Professional Services Network, Inc (Rock View Elementary School)
Project Change (Olney & Belmont Elementary Schools)
PSN, Inc. (Rock View Elementary School)
Saint Bernadette (Montgomery Knolls Elementary School)
Saint Mary's School (Brookhaven Elementary School)
Saint Matthew Presbyterian (Bel Pre Elementary School)
Sanberger, Inc. (Maryvale Elementary School)
SEEC (Sligo Creek Elementary School)
Seneca Valley High School (Waters Landing Elementary School)
Social and Scientific Services, Inc. (Kemp Mill Elementary School)
Sodexo (Washington Grove Elementary School)
We Have the Power Club (Strathmore Elementary School)
St. Paul's United Methodist Church (Viers Mill Elementary School)
Tzu Ching Collegiate Youth Group
Unitarian Universalist Church (Arcola Elementary School)
United Health Care Group (Gaithersburg Elementary School)
Wheaton Area Moms (Glen Haven Elementary School)
White Flint Self Storage (Viers Mill Elementary School)
Whole Foods Market