Dear Supporter,

It has been quite a month for our nation, our county, and Manna Food Center. With a pandemic still threatening us and taking loved ones, with an uncertain economic recovery, and with injustice rearing its ugly head like a confederate flag swaggering through the Capitol building, we have so many reasons to be concerned. Yet, because of supporters like you, Manna Food Center was able to serve generously throughout the holiday season and start the new year strong.

Like so many, my ears have been ringing with the words of poet Amanda Gorman and building my sense of hope. Manna embraces her sentiments from the inaugural poem "The Hill We Climb":

We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us

In this newsletter you’ll read about some of the causes for celebration in the past month, and learn why and how we have our gazes set to the future. We continue to stay safe as we keep serving, and we are actively engaged with County leaders to be a part of the roll out of vaccinations. If you haven’t already I urge you to to sign up to receive email or text updates from the County about the COVID vaccine. When there are sufficient doses it will be incumbent upon all of us to respond.
Be well,
Jackie DeCarlo
CEO, Manna Food Center
P.S. As we look to the year ahead, please know that your donations now will ensure we are ready for uncertain times. Thank you in advance for donating by clicking HERE or by clicking the “GIVE” button at the end of this email.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our #makeaplate challenge: It was a huge success! We raised over $13,000 with our virtual MLK Day food drive (which means we can purchase about 18,000 lbs of nutritious food), and our message of #foodjusticeforall reached tens of thousands of people.

We were honored to see so many of our elected officials participating in our challenge on social media. See if you can spot any of these familiar faces in the collage above: Senator Chris Van Hollen, Delegate Jared Solomon, Delegate David Fraser-Hidalgo, Delegate Brooke Lierman, Delegate Lily Qi, Delegate Lorig Charkoudian, Councilmember Andrew Friedson, Delegate Kirill Reznik, Delegate Pam Queen, Delegate Lesley Lopez, Councilmember Nancy Navarro, Senator Craig Zucker, and Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins.
Join us TODAY, January 27th, at 12 pm for the first in a two-part conversation series titled “Systems Seeded in Racism Need to be Uprooted.” We will discuss how our current agricultural system was impacted by racist policies and describe specific ways that the system still fails to work for Black farmers.

Manna staff will be joined by Tope Fajingbesi who will provide her current viewpoint as a farmer, author, lecturer, and accountant at Dodo Farms, a Certified Naturally Grown produce farm here in Montgomery County. Click here to register for the event and receive the Zoom link.

Can't be there at noon? No problem. Check out our Breaking Bread playlist on YouTube, where conversations will be uploaded in the days following the event.
The Food Council Needs Your Feedback!

Montgomery County Food Council has launched a survey to gather input from residents regarding 2021 food security initiatives. The answers will help guide the county in how to best serve target communities during and after the pandemic in its programs, policy development and funding priorities.

Residents who complete Part I of the survey will be entered in a drawing to win a $25 gift card, and those who complete Parts I and II of the survey will be entered to win a $50 gift card.
Must Watch!

We love this video, produced by the community Foundation, and featuring Anna Hargrave, Tracey K. Friedlander, Will Jawando, and Gene Sachs! Click below to learn about the importance of the Food for Montgomery fund and see the food assistance community in action. Manna's ability to stay safe and keep serving, and to build the capacity of our peers and partners, was made possible through the fund.
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