News

The 18th Annual Fill the Mayflower food and funds drive – presented by Coastal Moving and Storage and benefitting Manna Food Bank – was a success, raising the equivalent of nearly 50,000 healthy meals for neighbors in need in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties! Food collected during Fill the Mayflower at Cordova Mall will be distributed through Manna’s pantry and 18 food security programs in the two-county area.

“Fill the Mayflower 2025 raised the food and funds we need to feed the hungry in the coming months, when we expect requests for food assistance to increase,” said DeDe Flounlacker, Executive Director of Manna. “We are so grateful to the Northwest Florida community for generously supporting this event and continuing to show an amazing capacity to help those in need.”

October 2024 through September 2025, Manna distributed more than 665,900 pounds of food to 71,005 people in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties – more than the year before. Of those served, 61% of them were children. However, since October 1, the first day of the longest government shutdown in history, requests for food assistance have skyrocketed. Then, on November 1, when SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits were paused, circumstances worsened quickly.

“Manna is distributing more food than ever before to meet the need and fill gaps in service. Food and funds collected at the Fill the Mayflower event will assist Manna in fulfilling the many requests we currently have (and anticipate will only grow),” said Flounlacker. “The generous support of Jay and Jen Bradshaw, owners of Coastal Moving and Storage, continues their tradition of making tens of thousands of meals possible for children, senior citizens, veterans, families, and individuals in need. We are so grateful for them, along with our media sponsors at Cat Country 98.7, NewsRadio 92.3, and WEAR 3 News.”

For more information about Manna, please visit www.mannahelps.org.