CFIC Donates $50,000 to MANNA FoodBank

The Carolinas Food Industry Council (CFIC) has donated $50,000 to the MANNA FoodBank in Asheville, NC. This donation comes at a crucial time as Western North Carolina continues to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Helene. Lindsey Kueffner, CFIC executive director, presented the check to MANNA FoodBank’s Claire Neal, CEO, and Mary Nesbitt, chief development officer, during a December 10, 2024, meeting at the MANNA facility.

As the organization serving the retail and wholesale food industries in North and South Carolina, combatting food insecurity by supporting the food banks in the Carolinas has long been a focus for CFIC. Through their foundation, the Retail Consumer Alliance, CFIC has made annual donations of $50,000 several years and, in total, has donated over $800,000 to Feeding the Carolinas to be distributed through their network of ten Feeding America Food Banks serving North and South Carolina.

However, after having made their annual donation in 2024, the CFIC Board of Directors recognized the increased need in Western North Carolina and, in particular, for the MANNA FoodBank. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, MANNA’s facility was destroyed. On Friday, September 27, 2024, they lost all of their warehouse food and equipment, including computers, office equipment as well as forklifts and refrigeration and freezer units, but with resilience, strength and the help of the network they had built, MANNA was back to distributing food, water and supplies by Monday morning, September 30, 2024. As quickly as possible, they began working with their partner agencies across Western North Carolina delivering food, water and supplies to agencies throughout the region.

MANNA FoodBank has now moved their operations into an empty FedEx facility near the Asheville airport, but the new 84,000 square foot facility requires a new sprinkler system before racks, refrigeration and freezer systems can be installed. The cost to install the required sprinklers as well as replace the lost equipment, racks, and refrigeration and freezer units are staggering. This is in addition to the fact that the 150,000 people MANNA was serving monthly prior to the hurricane has ballooned as the number of people that now need assistance because they lost their homes in the storm, or they lost jobs due to the hit to the tourism industry took.

“CFIC is proud to represent the generous grocers in the Carolinas who have donated product and pledged monetary donations and whose employees have volunteered throughout Western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene,” said Kueffner. “The CFIC Board of Directors believed it was important for us to make this additional $50,000 donation on behalf of the Carolinas’ food industry as a whole. We hope this donation will encourage other organizations, businesses and individuals to contribute what they can to help the MANNA FoodBank and Western North Carolina recover.”

“We are grateful for the Carolinas Food Industry Council for their incredible, abiding partnership with Feeding the Carolinas which has benefited MANNA and our sister food banks across the Carolinas for a number of years,” said Neal. “We are also deeply appreciative of them coming along side MANNA with this wonderful gift during unimaginable crisis in so many of our Western North Carolina communities.”

Individuals can donate directly to MANNA FoodBank at https://donate.mannafoodbank.org/. Every dollar that is donated helps to distribute enough food for 4 meals. Donors can feel confident that their gifts are going to a worthy cause, as MANNA has been awarded 4 stars by Charity Navigator, the highest rating possible, for 10 consecutive years, placing the organization in the top 2% of charities across the country for operational and fiscal responsibility.

About CFIC – CFIC is a trade organization with members from both North and South Carolina whose mission is to improve the public image, effectiveness and profitability of retailer and supplier companies in the food industry. CFIC represents the food industry perspective to elected officials in both Raleigh and Columbia. Its membership includes all major retail chain stores as well as a large number of independent grocers. Visit our website at www.cficweb.org to learn more.

About MANNA FoodBank – MANNA FoodBank is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving Western North Carolina since 1983. As an accredited member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization, the mission of MANNA FoodBank is to involve, educate, and unite people in the work of ending hunger in Western North Carolina. MANNA works with over 300 community-based nonprofit food assistance partner agencies in 16 Western North Carolina counties including the Qualla Boundary and distributed 21.1 million pounds of food in 2023/2024. MANNA is a nonpartisan organization committed to sharing facts and information about issues related to hunger in Western North Carolina and how they affect those we serve. For more information, visit MANNAFoodbank.org, or call 828-299-FOOD.