Fed up: a nonprofit keeps food on the table for thousands of needy mountaineers.

• Author: Duckwall, Jane
• Position: GRATEFUL GIVING

When people mistake MANNA FoodBank for a food pantry, CEO Hannah Randall explains the difference like this: "We're the artery for how food gets into western North Carolina, and our partners are the capillaries."

MANNA collects, purchases and distributes food to 229 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, group homes and other organizations in 16 counties, feeding more than 107,000 people annually. Asheville-based MANNA also sponsors backpack programs to provide food on weekends and during the summer for students who depend on free and reduced meals at school. The nonprofit is a "huge, logistical distribution operation," Randall says.

Almost three-fourths of the food is donated by businesses, farmers, other nonprofits and individuals. The rest is purchased with funds from state and federal programs, private gifts and events. In 2015, MANNA's largest food donors included Ingles Markets, Wal-Mart Stores and Henderson County-based Flavor 1st Growers and Packers, which grows tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables.

If MANNA and its partners are the blood vessels in this food chain, donors and volunteers are its beating heart. More than 7,400 volunteers logged 65,736 hours in 2015, while thousands more donate time to MANNA's partners. "It is a giant group of people making this happen in western North Carolina," Randall says, "and it's pretty inspiring."

One partner is The Community Table in Sylva, where about 30 volunteers regularly help two employees run a food pantry and serve nutritious meals four days a week to as many as 200 people. Many volunteers are students, faculty or staff at nearby Western Carolina University. Others "are people who are, fortunately, really bad at being retired," says Amy Grimes Sims, executive director.

MANNA opened in 1983, distributing 40,000 pounds of food that first year. In 2015, it distributed 15.7 million pounds, including 5.3 million pounds of fresh produce. That represents 36,000 meals a day for low-income residents who live within the 6,434 square miles of MANNA's mountainous territory. Its most recent public tax report shows food donations and other contributions jumped from $11 million in 2009 to $23 million in 2013.

But more residents need help, prompting recent renovations that will allow MANNA to increase food capacity to 20 million pounds a year. It boosted freezer space by 400% and cooler capacity by 171% to handle more fresh produce.

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