Manna Food Center Builds Cooperative Relationship With Farmers

GAITHERSBURG, Md. - Crisp green vegetables. Succulent sweet corn. A bountiful harvest you would expect to find at the farmers market. But this is the food bank. It's the Manna Food Center . They buy fruits and vegetables from Montgomery County farmers.

Paul Dickerson lined up here to help feed his family. He's a barber with his own business, but it's not enough money to get by.

"I've never seen anything like it. Fresh fruits, vegetables. I thought it was phenomenal," said Dickerson.

Manna has built a relationship with farmers it buys from and because of that, they're getting seconds. Things a farmer might throw away that are perfectly good food and useful at the food bank.

"I had one lady tell me how excited she was to share a watermelon with her children for the first time. It's heartfelt," said Kim Damion.

And in the past, if food donated by a grocery store was spoiled, they had to throw it away. Now they're dropping it into a green compost box. Volunteer organizations 'Growing Soul' and 'Project Change' transport it to Button Farm in Germantown.

"The idea is that anything that grows out of the ground or comes from an animal needs to either go into another animal or back into the ground," said Jessica Weiss of Growing Soul.

Six months later, those old fruits and vegetables become fertilizer for the same farmers who help the food bank. They are closing the loop - growing food and a sense of community too.

There are lots of fresh vegetables, but the Manna Food Center is low on canned goods. They're trying to ramp up for the winter. They'll be accepting donations of non-perishables at the entrances of the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair . If you're planning a trip to the fair, bring some donations with you.

LINK:

www.mannafood.org/