THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 14, 1994 TAG: 9410140546
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Albemarle Manna hopes to raise $20,000 Sunday in its annual Walk for Hunger, a 10-kilometer march through the city to raise money and awareness in the fight against poverty.
The 12-year-old organization, which distributes food to agencies and individuals, has been soliciting participants this month through churches and schools and hopes at least 300 people will participate.
Executive Director Deborah Fox, who has been with the recently renamed Albemarle Manna since it began, said rain the last two years has dampened participation, and organizers are counting on better weather this year.
The Walk for Hunger begins at Hobbs Park, brushes Martin and Shepard streets, winds down Southern Avenue through Rivershore Road, makes a loop and then follows River Road, Rivershore Road and Riverside Avenue back to Hobbs Park.
The route is designed to go through a variety of neighborhoods ``so that people can see the disparity of wealth right here in our community,'' Fox said.
For more information on Albemarle Manna or the Walk for Hunger, call (919) 335-4035.
Money raised will go into the organization's general fund, which covers expenses such as staff, rent and building maintenance that make up the bulk of the labor-intensive charity's $180,000 budget, officials said.
``It's important for more than just money,'' Fox said. ``It's a really good opportunity for us to be in the community, to be visible.''
Albemarle Manna, headquartered on Road Street, is the umbrella organization primarily responsible for the local Food Bank, which collects and distributes more than a half-million pounds of salvaged food annually to charities in a 15-county region, Fox said.
The organization also operates a food pantry, in which people who come in between 9 a.m. and noon on weekdays can receive daily lunches or family meal boxes that last three to four days, Fox said.
A soup kitchen that had been in operation since the mid-1980s at a donated building on Martin Street - renovated at the organization's expense - closed in June 1993, Fox said. She said maintaining two buildings was too expensive, and Board of Directors Chairman Don Prentiss said security had also been a problem.
Recipients at the food pantry are first interviewed to see if they are eligible. Eligibility is determined primarily by a person's cash flow and food stamps, Fox said. People were not screened before being fed at the soup kitchen because it would be too time-consuming, Manna board members said.
About 27,000 meals were distributed from the food pantry in 1993, and about 3,000 were served from the soup kitchen that year before it closed, Fox said. The current pantry lunch menu consists of a submarine sandwich or small pizza, a bag of chips, a drink that is usually juice, and doughnuts or other sweets, she said.
Volunteer Bill Beck said that when certain supplies are low, ``we have to get very innovative'' in preparing meal bags.
Proceeds from the Walk for Hunger will be used to support the extensive operation of warehousing, sorting and distributing food, Manna officials said. Processing donated food, and not buying it, is the most efficient way to run a food bank and standard practice nationwide, they said.
About 60 agencies, which ``shop'' at the food bank and pay a ``handling fee'' that is typically 14 cents per pound, are on the Food Bank's active client list.
The number has been pared down from roughly 100 over the past two years to eliminate agencies that weren't actively shopping but still took up Manna time and travel for paperwork and inspections, Fox said. Distribution of food is consistent with last year, she said.
Salaries for Manna's four full-time and two part-time employees total about $103,000, Prentiss said. Fox is paid about $31,800. by CNB