Brimming with Helpers, Food, and Thanks

487 boxes waiting to be filled

Manna Food Center opens at 8 a.m.

At 7:15 a.m. in Gaithersburg, the cold sky promised rain, and the air chilled those exposed places on your neck and ears. Jackie, Manna’s Executive Director, arrived early to start her workday to find a woman waiting at the locked doors of Manna’s warehouse. At the height of Manna’s busiest season, this woman was not here to receive food. On her way to work, she dropped by to donate food: 68 pounds.

This is the spirit of gratitude filling Manna to the brim this week, those with a generous offering for their neighbors’ table, and those humbly waiting in the lobby to receive.

volunteers from local businesses join community volunteers to prepare for the day’s food distribution

Today is a record day in Manna’s 30 years of serving the community: we are honored to provide 487 families food for Thanksgiving. In our modest lobby, 354 will stand in line for a monthly food box. 105 families will receive a Manna food box at Catholic Charities, one of many valued faith-based partners. The remaining 28 boxes will be delivered to a low-income housing complex. Five of those boxes are specially created for clients with diabetes.

Yesterday was nearly as significant a gathering, and if you came into Manna’s office, you would be greeted with the stillness of empty cubicles. Everyone from every department left a day’s worth of e-mails and to-do’s to assemble boxes, sign-in clients, replenish food, and deliver boxes to client’s transportation alongside dozens of devoted volunteers—individuals pitching in and corporate partners coming in teams—all joining to serve.

sending clients home with healthy, inexpensive holiday menu how-to’s, like roasted apple-pear sauce and juicy skillet chicken

Today, we gather again, to tape boxes, distribute recipes, stop and smile to clients—waiting in a long, wet line that extends to the street–who Manna’s lobby from the cold winter rain. And we thank you: for your time, your donations, and your support of this critical work. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Update:  On November 27th, 2013, Manna served 534 families.

About Lindsey Seegers

Lindsey Seegers is the Program Manager of Nutrition Education at Manna Food Center. Her background is in Social Work and Nutrition; her passion is cooking food always delicious and nutritious. She teaches cooking and nutrition classes, and leads grocery store tours around Montgomery County about affordable and do-able healthy cooking. Since 1983, Manna has been feeding Montgomery County’s food insecure residents. In our 30 years of service Manna has served nearly 3 million people, 668,527 households, and distributed 45 million pounds of food. As the designated food bank for Montgomery County we are the main resource people turn to when they find themselves in need of food assistance. Manna delivers emergency food assistance through its three main programs: Food for Families, Smart Sacks, and Agency Food Distribution.

View all posts by Lindsey Seegers