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Spotlight on Manna Food Center in Rockville, Maryland

Manna Food Center strives to eliminate hunger in Montgomery County through food distribution, education and advocacy.

What Manna does is simple and essential - by collecting and distributing 2 million pounds of food each year to needy individuals and families. They provide a 3-5 day supply of perishable and non-perishable food to each individual or family, serving nearly 20,000 families annually, solely on the basis of need.

Many clients come to Manna in crisis and require emergency food, while others find themselves consistently unable to put food on their table because of low-income jobs and the high cost of housing and health care. More than ¼ of Montgomery County residents do not earn enough to achieve self-sufficiency.

On Mitzvah Day, volunteers will help sort and box canned food in this Rockville agency. This project is ideal for families since all ages can help. Consider this worthwhile project when registering this year!

Prepare Toiletry Packages for the Homeless

Did you know that each Mitzvah Day, volunteers prepare hundreds of individual “kits” of toiletries? These kits are then sorted, packaged and donated to a handful of agencies in Maryland and Washington, D.C. These kits are vital to the homeless people who receive them.

Each toiletry kit contains sample-sized shampoos, lotions, soaps, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. The items are collected prior to Mitzvah Day, donated by WHC members and corporate sponsors.

On Mitzvah Day, volunteers work to sort the toiletries on long tables. Once the items are sorted, volunteers of all ages begin to fill baggies with the sample sized toiletries. After zipping the baggies closed, the kits are packaged in boxes and then delivered by our Mitzvah Day crew of trucks, to agencies such as Coalition for the Homeless, Bethesda Cares, House and Ruth and many other deserving agencies in the D.C. area.

This is a fun project that pairs volunteers of all ages, from the young children who love to take one of each item and make it into a kit, to the Prime Timers who volunteer each year.