Manna Food Pantries will be serving up its seventh annual Fill A Bowl for Manna event this weekend. The weather will be getting chilly again towards the end of the week, which means it's a great time to think about soup.
DeDe Flounlacker, executive director of Manna Food Pantries, says this year's event is set for this Saturday afternoon from 1 until 3pm at the WSRE performance studio on the campus of Pensacola State College. There will be over a dozen area restaurants showing off their best homemade soups, as well as over a thousand handmade, original bowls that have all been made locally
Flounlacker says that the 30 dollar admission fee goes directly to buying and distributing food to local families in need. And that need appears to be growing. She points out the cuts to the food stamps program late last year and the elimination of long term unemployment benefits this month as triggers for a spike in request for aid.
Manna Food Pantries is a non-profit that was established in 1982 as a community response to a comprehensive needs assessment conducted by the Northwest Florida Paralegal Association. It was designated to be the primary local agency to receive, store and distribute non-perishable food donated from the community to people who have a legitimate, verifiable need.