$260K Being Considered To Support Food Insecure Families In MoCo

Patch
·2 min read

This article originally appeared on the Rockville Patch

ROCKVILLE, MD — Montgomery County Councilmember Craig Rice is expected to introduce a special appropriation of $260,000 on Tuesday to help tackle increasing levels of food insecurity in the county due to coronavirus-related school closures and economic slowdowns.

Officials say the funding will be administered through the county's Health and Human Services department as a non-competitive contract award from the General Fund — and will help Manna Food Center feed food insecure residents.

Manna Food Center, a food bank based in Gaithersburg, has collaborated with Montgomery County Public Schools to feed students and their families amid the coronavirus pandemic. Rice, who chairs the Education and Culture Committee, said the funding will help Manna deliver more food to more people in the county, including those who are unable to access MCPS' meal distribution sites.

"I applaud the tremendous effort of Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in rapidly implementing their Grab-and-Go meal distribution to more than 40 locations throughout the county. Manna Food Center has collaborated with MCPS to address the weekend gap by providing Smart Sacks on Fridays to children and their families," Rice said. "Manna also has more flexibility in terms of locations for food distribution. This additional funding will support Manna as it expands its food delivery programs to support our students and families who are unable to access the MCPS distribution sites at this critical time of need."

Council President Sidney Katz and Councilmembers Gabe Albornoz, Will Jawando, Nancy Navarro, Evan Glass, and Hans Riemer are co-sponsoring the special appropriation.

The council is scheduled to vote on the special appropriation on March 31.

SEE ALSO:

Don't miss updates about the new coronavirus in Maryland. Get Patch news alerts.