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Everybody's a winner under a new program that uses fresh farm produce to feed county residents in need, organizers say.

The Fresh Give program, launched four weeks ago at the Clarksburg Town Center Farmers Market, gives farmers' surplus produce to needy families via the Manna Food Center with the help of charitable donations from local businesses.

"It's a win-win situation for everyone," said Niki Lewis, the program organizer and owner of Green Earth Goods in Clarksburg.

Fresh Give works like this: A sponsor business donates, for example, $200 to the program. Then Lewis and other volunteers go to the Clarksburg Town Center Farmers Market at the end of business Sundays and buy as much unsold produce as they can. They store the produce overnight at Green Earth Goods, where it is picked up Monday morning by Manna volunteers and distributed to needy families.

Lewis said she and Tim Lanigan, director of food collection at Manna, conceived the idea in response to a growing need for food at Manna.

Food banks usually offer only canned and non-perishable food items.

"The farmers say, give me 20 bucks and I'll give you this," Lewis said. "They love it."

Individuals can help, too, she said.

"We're trying to make it clear to people that it's OK to by four extra ears of corn and put it in the [donation] box," she said.

The timing of Fresh Give is just about perfect, Lanigan said.

"We've experienced huge growth recently," he said. "We've grown 50 percent over the past five years and 25 percent in the last year alone."

Rockville-based Manna Food Center is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating hunger in Montgomery County.

The infusion of more fresh produce into Manna's food stock is helpful, especially as people are falling on hard times because of the slowing economy, he said.

"July is normally a slow month for us," Lanigan added. "We broke our all-time [high] number of clients this year in July. It's the economy — higher food prices combined with stagnant wages."

Manna serves approximately 2,500 families per month and about 580 Montgomery County Public School students through the Smart Sacks program. Smart Sacks, in partnership with local businesses, provides elementary school children from needy families in Montgomery County with a weekends' worth of food every Friday afternoon.

Although some farmers have outlets such as farmers' markets to try and sell off their surplus produce, many are left with no choice but to put it on the compost pile, Lewis said.

"For them, the farmers would rather get paid," she said.

The Clarksburg Town Center Farmers Market offers area residents the opportunity to buy locally grown vegetables and fruits, poultry, bread and cheeses. It is open Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. until Nov. 16.

The first business to sponsor the program was Accurate Bookkeeping Consultant Services of Germantown. Its donation provided more than 176 pounds of produce to Manna.

Newland Communities has pledged $800 to sponsor the entire month of October, Peggy Molloy, marketing director of Clarksburg Town Center, said. Newland Communities of McLean Va., is the developer of Clarksburg Town Center.

The program is looking for more sponsors. A $100 weekly donation is recommended, but more is always appreciated, she said.

"It's amazing how far a few dollars can go," Lewis said.