The economy is booming. According to the Hendersonville Times-News:
In 2011, MANNA distributed more than 10 million pounds of food in Western North Carolina, but Executive Director Cindy Threlkeld said agencies are “absolutely not” meeting the need for the hungry in the community.
A report from the Food Hardship in America from March 2011 stated the Asheville metro area — made up of Henderson, Buncombe, Haywood and Madison counties — ranked seventh in the nation for food hardship, among the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas.
According to that report, 23.9 percent of the households in this area experienced food hardship, meaning they did not have enough money to buy needed food at some point over a 12-month period.
