Back Home, With No Home

Debby is homeless... again. She came to us back in December, looking for temporary help until she could get her life sorted out. We put her up in local motel for a couple of nights and referred her to a shelter in a neighboring town (there are no shelters in our area). Debby managed there for a while, but ran into some problems when her "ex" showed up. Words were exchanged, a physical exchange ensued, and Debby was banned from the shelter.

Debby made her way back to Manna on Main Street one evening and found herself in the same motel. We were reluctant to offer her a room again - it would not really lead her to anything better. Still, we could not just leave her to spend a night on the streets. It's hard to say what will happen to her next...

Graffiti - Art

Sometimes we're not certain: is it graffiti, is it art or is it something entirely different.

When volunteers come to serve for the first time, we ask if they'd like to sign our walls. We've found that it gives them a sense of ownership, and, well, it's fun. At the same time, some of our walls are really covered and one or two people have commented that they don't care for the look. What do you think?

Scaling Up

Some nonprofits today are struggling. Funding is not as plentiful as in the past, and so they are forced to cut back on their programs and eliminate staff. While Manna on Main Street is certainly not awash with money, we have been able to hold our own. In fact, we've had to increase our services because of the increased demand. We used to average 25 guests at each meal and now the number is closer to 35. More and more people come to sign up for the food cupboard, and in July alone we helped families with more than $7,000 in rental assistance.

The reason we are able to do all these things is because of our caring community. Just as people show up looking for help, neighbors call or stop in asking how they can serve. Our biggest challenge is physically accommodating everyone - our building is pretty small - but we're working on scaling up there as well.

Just for Kicks

More than 50 kids, teens and adults from Villari's Self-Defense Center in Chalfont will be holding a Kick-a-Thon on Saturday Oct. 3rd at 1:00 pm to benefit Manna on Main Street. Each student will be doing 500 kicks to raise funds for our soup kitchen.

Chief Instructor Harry Pfister will be there to inspire everyone to get all their kicks in, and we will be there as well, cheering them on. If you'd like to stop by to join in the fun, Villari's is in the shopping center on Rt. 202 and County Line Road.