News

Manna expands Tummy Bundles child nutrition program

 

Pensacola, FL (September 14, 2021) – This schoolyear, Manna Food Bank, Inc. is expanding its reach to food insecure students in Escambia County through the Tummy Bundles program. The program is run in collaboration with Boys & Girls Clubs of the Emerald Coast.

 

Since 2016, Manna has provided seven healthy weekend meals to 20-30 children in the Boys & Girls Clubs after-school program at Montclair Elementary every week of the schoolyear – more than 30,000 meals! The nutritious food is provided to support children who mostly rely on the free meals they receive at school and who may not have much to eat at home on the weekends. The food allows students to focus on their academic and health outcomes, not their empty bellies.

 

Going forward, the program will reach approximately 150 students every weekend at three sites: Montclair Elementary, Dixon School of Arts and Sciences, and the Boys & Girls Clubs main site in Pensacola. The expansion represents a more than 400% increase in the number of students served through the Tummy Bundles program.

 

Due to the effects of the pandemic and Hurricane Sally, childhood hunger has sharply risen – from 1 in 5 children facing food insecurity in 2019, to now 1 in 3 in Northwest Florida. Manna works diligently to address childhood hunger and creates programs like Tummy Bundles that serve this vulnerable population.

 

For information about sponsoring the Tummy Bundles program, please contact kerri@mannahelps.org or call 850-432-2053.

 

For more information, please visit https://www.mannahelps.org/info/programs/

 

###