Next MANNA FoodBank Community Market to be held at the Old Rock Gym in Newland on Thursday, December 8th

By Tim Gardner

One of the most beneficial entities for the needy is the MANNA FoodBank Community Market.  For more than four years, it has done monthly food giveaways in Avery County. Its next Community Market there will be held on Thursday, December 8th at the Old Rock School Gymnasium in Newland. The gymnasium is located at 185 Shady Street and is adjacent to Newland Elementary School.

Anyone or any family struggling financially to afford groceries is not only welcome, but urged to come by the Community Market for totally free grocery staples, fresh produce and perishable items courtesy of the MANNA FoodBank.

The Community Market will open at 11:30 a.m. and will remain so until food items run out.  It has touch free, drive through pick-up service for those who come to receive food items.

For further details, contact Tammie Woodie by phone at (828) 733-6006 or email: tammywoodie@averyschools.net.  Information about the Community Market can also be obtained by calling Avery County Parks and Recreation Director Robbie Willis at (828) 733-8266, whose office is housed in the Old Rock School Gymnasium, or Dick Larson of the Feeding Avery Families organization at (828) 260-5389.

The Community Market needs volunteers to help with the packaging of food items and their distribution to recipients.  Those interested in volunteering for this worthwhile cause of the zenith should contact Woodie at the phone number or email address in the previous paragraph for protocol about how to do so.

MANNA is an acronym, and stands for Mountain Area Nutritional Needs Alliance.  It is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization. To learn more about MANNA FoodBank, log online to its web site: MANNAFoodBank.org or phone MANNA’S Food Help Line at 1-800-820-1109.

MANNA FoodBank, headquartered in Asheville, NC, is a private, not-for-profit service organization working to end food insecurity in the 16 counties of Western North Carolina, including Avery County, which includes Newland, and the Qualla Boundary (territory in Cherokee for the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians). MANNA links the food industry to over 200 partner pantries and other human service groups to get food to thousands of families’ tables through compassion and dignity.