Loaves and People

It could be said that bread and people are at the very core of what Manna is all about. Every day, bread is delivered. It comes from grocery stores (Giant, Acme, Genuardi) and from specialty shops like Panera and the Hearth Bakery. The bread is mostly leftovers - what the stores could not sell that day; items near their expiration date. Still, the bread is very good, and we see it as giving the bread a second chance, the opportunity to feed someone rather than winding up in a dumpster.

As for the individuals that come to Manna, they come from all walks of life: working poor, elderly, homeless, and some just barely holding on. I'm reminded of a woman that came to us years ago, just out of a rehab clinic. She had battled drugs for most of her life and was finally on the way to making herself whole. She came for bread, then eventually, bags of groceries. She was difficult to deal with, but we worked with her. To some, it might have seemed like a waste, spending so much time and energy on someone with obvious problems. But just like we take in the unwanted bread, so it is that we take in people, providing them a second chance...