Insights for
April 2026

Welcome to our Monthly MCI Updates email! We will be sharing the latest updates from MANNA and Feeding America on MCI, MANNA-wide stats, and monthly focuses for our agencies.

Reminder: PCON

What exactly is PCON?

PCON (MANNA Partner Conference) is an event held by our MANNA Agency Relations team.

This event will host a variety of guests, lectures, and appearances to help enhance our agencies. Some of these sessions are geared towards MCI intake, including a Spanish 101 to assist data input.

We highly encourage our agencies to attend PCON!

The date will be 5/7/26 at Lake Junaluska from 10AM-4PM. Please reach out to ar@mannafoodbank.org if you have any questions.

MONTHLY FOCUS: RETRAIN - Are you my neighbor?

Our team has gotten feedback from agencies that some of their neighbors are not showing up in search. What exactly causes this, and how can it be fixed?

Names Misspelled

Names must be spelled perfectly to see the corresponding results. Even a slight misspelling can lead to empty search pages during intake. If the space permits, providing pen and paper for neighbors to write their own name can help.

When searching for neighbors we encourage this formatting: Last Name, First Initial

If John Smith showed up for food distribution, we would search: Smith, J

In this search example, many name options would appear. From there, we could ask the neighbor clarifying questions to find and confirm the correct profile.

Zip Code Missing

If a neighbor is constantly not showing up during search and having to be re-entered into intake, a missing zip code in our database could be the cause. You will see this more often when agencies have neighbors visit from out of state.

To fix this, write or make a note of that neighbor's zip and send it over to the MCI team. Our team can then fix the issue.

Mountain Cards

For those unfamiliar, we can provide Mountain Cards to interested agencies. What exactly are Mountain Cards?

Mountain Cards are similar to a library or grocery card as they come with a serial number. They are especially handy when searching for neighbors in MCI, as the serial number can be searched under "Alt ID".

Mountain Cards can speed up the intake process, offer increased anonymity, and help address language barriers. If your agency is interested in more information, please contact the MCI team or access our Agency Resource page.

MCI Agency Resources

We know that being unable to find a recurring neighbor can be frustrating, so we hope that these solutions can help! As always, we will link our agency resource page down below. Please reach out to our team if you have any more questions.

The MCI resource page contains important information ranging from downloading a neighbor roster to duplicate management. We encourage all agencies to save the URL for quick access. Click the link here to view: MANNA FoodBank - Agency Resources

Reminders

Share your success story with our team!

We want to highlight agency impact, celebrate our community, and empower our communities.

We are looking for agencies to share:

Neighbor or intake success stories
Tips and tricks
Best practices
Please send your submissions to: MCI@mannafoodbank.org

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Need more information about SNAP?

SNAP materials are available on the shopping list in P2. These are great to have available during intake to distribute to neighbors that may be eligible for SNAP or would like help with their application.

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Backdating intake forms

If for some reason you are unable to complete live intake in MCI, you can always back-date entries to ensure all of your neighbors and visits have been captured.

Click the link to: instructions on back-dating entries .

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MCI Financial Incentive

Once your pantry has collected 6 months of data through MCI, you will receive a $1000 award! This can be used for a variety of things, such as more tablets, equipment, tables, and more! Please reach out to the MCI team with any questions.

*Please note that these funds will be distributed via check. We will process awards monthly, with the first batch going out soon. These funds are intended to support your pantry — food purchasing, internet service, etc. No reporting is necessary after receiving these funds.