MANNA Food Bank (MANNA)

Manna foodbank serves as the central Food sourcing and distribution center for 383 nonprofit partner agencies that provide Food assistance throughout Manna's 16-county western north carolina service area, including the qualla boundary. Our service area encompasses 6,434 square miles with many of our communities in rural and under-served locations with high Food insecurity rates. Therefore, to ensure that those in need receive Food, we deliver to even the most remote locations on a regular basis. The counties Manna serves are: avery, buncombe, cherokee, clay, graham, haywood, henderson, jackson, macon, madison, mcdowell, mitchell, polk, swain, transylvania, and yancey county. These diverse communities also have diverse needs and available resources, but the common issues of high housing costs, lack of public transportation, and stagnant wage growth are pervasive. With a dramatically growing gap between income and the cost of living, residents across the region continue to face an ongoing peak need for Food. In 22/23, Manna served over 137,000 people on average each month living throughout the region - a 25 percent increase over the prior year's monthly average, and a staggering 110 percent increase over pre-pandemic monthly averages. In wnc, according to the western north carolina health network, at least 1 in 5 people are Food insecure. Food distribution: Manna foodbank continued to serve a sustained increase in the need for emergency Food assistance due to the covid pandemic in fy 22/23. Despite massive challenges in sourcing Food and working against rising costs, Manna distributed 20.1 million pounds of Food - the equivalent of 48,000 meals every day of the year. Manna experienced a confluence of challenges to the organization's efforts to provide much-needed Food to tens of thousands of households across western north carolina. As the need for Food continued to far outpace the need prior to the pandemic-now 110% over the pre-pandemic monthly average- and traditional donation sources continued to decline, Manna had to continue purchasing more Food than ever to try and meet this chronic and ongoing need. In 22/23, 30% of Manna's total Food sources were purchased thanks to the support of individual donors and foundation partners - a growing trend as Food banks across the country continue to face disturbing year-over-year declines in donated Food resources. Elevated need: the ongoing socioeconomic "perfect storm" of challenges that wnc residents continued to face in this period contributed greatly to the chronic need for Food. As housing costs and other basic needs, like Food, continued to climb, many people saw their monthly budgets stretched far past their available means, just to afford basic living expenses. Along with a median salary that continues to trail behind state (-19%) and federal (-36%) medians, thousands of people turned to Manna and our dedicated partner agency network for emergency Food support just to make it through the month. Rising costs continued to impact the Food Bank as well. The costs of purchased Food, even with our connections and wholesale relationships, went up again, resulting in 4.8 million spent on Food resources alone - a 33% single-year increase. Yet, in spite of these universal challenges, the wnc community yet again pulled together to ensure that Manna and our partners could be there to support every individual coming to us needing Food. This community support resulted in Manna helping to provide over 48,000 meals every single day of the 22/23 fiscal year. Pandemic-era relief ends: as we continue to move further from the start of the pandemic, federal relief initiatives are continuing to end, despite many households and families still struggling. In march 2023, the pandemic-era snap benefit expansion lapsed, and Manna and our Food distribution partners saw a sharp increase in the need for emergency Food in april 2023. Pandemic and Food sourcing: the effects of the pandemic on the Food supply chain continued to create waves across the region, and the country. Even federal and state Food commodities programs, like the emergency Food assistance program (tefap), struggled to provide Food at the rate they had - Manna saw a 5.9-million-pound decrease in these commodities programs in the 21/22 fiscal year, and another 1.3-million-pound decrease in 22/23, creating even deeper strain on available Food resources when more families than ever need this vital, life-saving public support. However, the resilience of the organization, thanks to dedicated partners, supporters, Food and financial donors, and volunteers, Manna was still able to provide 17.4 million meals of Food support. Nutrition and health: Manna recognizes that nutritious Food is the cornerstone of overall health and well-being, and has worked diligently for several years to source nutritionally dense Food that can be distributed to partner agencies. In fy 22/23, 70% of the Food that Manna distributed was classified as "healthy staples" which consist of items like whole grains, proteins, dairy, fresh/frozen vegetables and fruits. Over 34% of all Food distributed was fresh produce. In order to address the intersection between Food insecurity and health risks, Manna continues to focus on building a healthy inventory that we and our partner network can provide nutritious Food to neighbors facing a Food deficit. In 22/23, we continued our partnership with southeast partnership for a healthier america to continue providing nutrition information and guidance to partners who are receiving Food from Manna's inventory. Healthy opportunities pilot: the healthy opportunities pilot (hop) is the first program in the nation to use medicaid funding to integrate non- medical services in the delivery of healthcare to address the social determinants of health that can account for up to 80% of health outcomes. The pilot--launched by the north carolina department of health and human services, and the first of its kind in the nation--aims to buy better health and reduce healthcare costs by addressing social needs across four key domains before they contribute to chronic and costly medical conditions. One of those domains is Food insecurity. Manna serves the healthy opportunities pilot as a human service provider (hso) and provides direct and indirect support through healthy Food boxes, produce boxes, and healthy meals to other hsos and medicaid enrollees in the pilot. Manna also supports impact health-the hop network lead for western north carolina-and the network as the Food domain, subject matter expert, as well as a healthy Food vendor. The Food distribution network: Manna foodbank partners with over 250 nonprofit agencies to distribute Food, including Food pantries, shelters, community kitchens, church ministries, and other community organizations offering emergency Food assistance for wnc residents struggling with hunger - especially children, families, seniors, veterans, disabled persons, and growing numbers of the working poor. Manna agency managers provide resources, support, and guidance to all of our partner agencies ensuring that they adhere to national safe serv standards as well as feeding america's specific Food safety standards for Food banks. Stewardship: Manna foodbank is proud to have earned a 4-star rating from charity navigator for 12 consecutive years - the highest rating possible from the independent nonprofit rating organization. Nationally, Manna foodbank ranks in the top 2% of nonprofits for fiscal responsibility and effectiveness. This top rating is a result of an unwavering dedication to stewardship, and to a robust volunteer program. In fy 22/23, 2,961 volunteers served 55,032 hours in a variety of volunteer roles. This is the equivalent of 27 full-time staff members and helps Manna continue to prioritize financial resources toward providing Food. An important note here is that while individual volunteer numbers stayed at the same level as the prior fiscal year, individual volunteers dedicated 3,000 more hours of their time in to maintain a high "total hours" donated, thereby continuing to support Manna's deep commitment to stewardship at every level. The variety of volunteer roles also increased: Manna now utilizes volunteers in every department. The volunteer roles range from sorting produce and packing bulk foods, packing and delivering Manna packs for kids, driving Manna express and Manna community market deliveries, picking orders in the warehouse for partner agencies, sorting large donations from Food industry donors, educating the public on Manna's work as ambassadors, taking calls through the Food helpline, supporting the ingles reclaim center operations, partner agency outreach and monitoring, and a variety of administrative tasks. Volunteers help Manna keep overhead costs low and ensure that for every dollar donated, Manna can help provide the Food for 4 meals.

Manna's outreach program is a direct assistance program that provides households struggling to afford groceries with access to Food resources. The outreach program connects households to a partner agency or Manna mobile market for immediate Food support, as well as assisting individuals with signing up for snap (supplemental nutrition assistance program), the country's most effective anti-hunger program (formerly called "Food stamps"). Snap support can help a family survive a crisis of unemployment, poor health, or other hardships that can trigger a downward spiral into poverty. In fy 22/23 Manna's outreach team of staff and volunteers fielded 12,381 contacts with households needing access to Food, referred 10,514 households to available Food services, and provided direct assistance to 1,853 households with help applying for or recertifying for snap. This includes assisting people in person and through Manna's Food helpline, which is run by Manna staff and 22 highly trained volunteers who provide over-the-phone assistance to people in need across the region. The privacy and convenience of the helpline service overcomes numerous barriers for individuals in need, including transportation, work schedule constraints, physical disabilities, etc. That may prevent people from accessing the help that they need in person. Manna partners with the department of health and human services office in every county of the service region to provide this streamlined support. Our equity commitment: we are Manna foodbank, a network of more than 200 partner agencies, volunteers, staff, board, and community working together in a shared mission of involving, educating, and uniting people in the work of ending hunger in western north carolina. At Manna foodbank, people experiencing hunger and Food insecurity in our region are at the center of our actions and decisions. We envision a hunger-free western north carolina where everyone can participate, prosper and have access to Food that is both nourishing and culturally responsive. We recognize that systemic injustices and oppression exist-such as racism, classism, and sexism-and that these create and perpetuate conditions that sustain poverty, hunger, and health disparities. Understanding this, we commit to serve marginalized communities, in both urban and rural environments, in ways that value identity, lived experiences, and unique barriers to accessing Food. We resolve to educate ourselves, listen to our communities, elevate marginalized voices, and respond to bias and inequities that occur. We confront oppression and poverty by developing solutions to hunger that are community-driven, equitable, accessible, honor a diversity of needs, and value everyone. Our Food programs and public policy efforts aim to build a society where everyone can thrive-celebrating our differences and working together to overcome injustices that might divide us because no one should be hungry.

Manna packs for kids is a direct-food assistance program delivering weekly supplemental Food to 134 schools and sites across our 16-county service area. Each week, volunteers pack and distribute thousands of bags of Food to school children who are Food insecure and rely on free meal plans to have enough to eat. Each bag contains snacks and meals for the weekend when food-insecure children do not have enough to eat. In fy 22/23, a total of 122,533 Manna packs were distributed to children across western north carolina. Through the efforts of school districts, nutrition directors, teachers, guidance counselors, and school nutrition staff, Manna was able to continue providing Food resources to children even during school closings, unforeseen closures, in-person class changes, and many other last-minute schedule changes. In the summer months of 2022, Manna distributed 14,726 bags of Food to 26 different schools and sites with a week's worth of nourishment for children through the summer pack program, providing much-needed Food assistance while children are out of school and away from the vital support of regular meals through the national school meal program.

Manna foodbank is a non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public on the issues that affect the people we all serve together. At Manna, we are committed to serving marginalized communities in ways that value who they are, their lived experiences, and their unique barriers to accessing Food. We are developing solutions to hunger that are community- driven, equitable, accessible, honor a diversity of needs, and value everyone. Our Food programs and public policy efforts aim to build a society where everyone can live, learn, work and thrive-because having enough Food is a fundamental human right. Manna's work to address hunger in wnc includes encouraging the community to advocate for solutions that lessen, and ultimate end, hunger for residents across the region. Manna staff work to inform local government officials and legislators of the impact that federal and state programs have on residents' ability to afford groceries. Manna maintains an email list for direct advocacy calls-to- action, which grew by 10% from the prior fiscal year. The pandemic's impacts continue to expose the fragile balance that thousands of households manage each month between the income and the growing cost of living here in western north carolina, and those impacts continue to affect families living on the edge far more. In fy 22/23, Manna and the advocacy network advocated with state and federal representatives for universal school meals as the pandemic-era program expansion providing meals to all students-and thus removing the stigma associated with receiving free and reduced-price meals-lapsed the year before. Manna also advocated at the federal level for a farm bill that helps support Food access to the many people needing it right now, as well as support for local farmers and the wnc Food system. Manna's ongoing focus on advocating for the needs of wnc residents continues to grow and deepen, helping to influence state and national policy, align state and local resources, and operationalize support for communities where a high majority of households are facing income and resource barriers. We are working to end hunger for all western north carolinians through a commitment to providing Food today, Food tomorrow, and Food for a lifetime.