SOME HISTORY.....MANNA MEAL PROGRAM IN SWEET HOME, OR
Excerpted from article in Linn Benton Food Share Newsletter 2009 by Janet Hessel
The Manna soup kitchen in Sweet Home is quiet in the early afternoon. Across the long room of empty tables and chairs I see a lone woman chopping vegetables in the kitchen. She is starting the preparations for the Friday night dinner at Manna. Fran Luther chops more carrots as she tells me the dinner all depends upon what food is available from local donations, vegetables from their own garden, and from Linn Benton Food Share’s Food Rescue and Fresh Alliance Programs. The Food Rescue Program picks up prepared food from Oregon State University's three dining halls, and Fresh Alliance picks up fresh produce, meats and dairy products nearing their pull dates from Fred Meyers, Albertsons andRay's Food Place.Manna serves dinner once a week on Friday.
It is a program of Sweet Home Emergency Ministries (SHEM) and evolved from Dining with Daisy, a former soup kitchen that closed. A committed group of men from the United Methodist Church restarted the soup kitchen calling it the Manna Program. The soup kitchen serves people with low income, those on a fixed income, and those whoare just trying to make ends meet.Nobody is turned away.
Mary Brindle, a five-year volunteer with SHEM, joins Fran to take stock of food on hand. Tonight’s menu is then decided: homemade vegetable soup,eggs, pancakes and sausage. Breakfast food is one of their most popular dinners. Soon, I am peeling potatoes for the soup as we talk.Fran, who has volunteered for the past three years, tells me they serve anywhere from 40 to 80 people on Friday nights. Mary says they are seeing more families and also seeing more homeless teenagers. Bob Hartsock, Fran’s husband, and their grandson, DJ Lolmaugh, show up to pitch in. Bob was the former president of Sweet Home Emergency Ministries, which also runs an emergency food pantry.“I am content to be here as a volunteer now,” Bob says.
He speaks fondly of how the Manna program slowly evolved. The church’s men’s group committed themselves to start up the soup kitchen. A dedicated group of35 men from the church came every week to provide support. “We decided it wasn’t an ‘us and them’ proposition,” says Bob. “Volunteers were invited to eat at Manna too. Slowly we began to know the people who came for meals. It took a year for the homeless to come—before they trusted us not to judge them. People began to talk about their problems and as we got to know them the mission of our church changed. It wasn’t just to feed people, we made it our mission to feed them physically and socially. Our goal was to have people come and feel welcome.”
At dinner time, 40 or more people stand talking as they wait while children are rounded up to eat first. Children run in from the craft room, developed by church volunteer, Delena Gilman, where they can work on art projects beforeand after dinner. There are perhaps 10 children running up to get food.The hall is suddenly filled with people, some at tables with the children,others sitting to chat until the line goes down.
I notice the kitchen is constantly changing, people show up to help,others leave.While I stand in line, I try to learn what brought people to the soup kitchen tonight. Are they broke? Do they have jobs? Are they homeless? Hungry?
As I talk to one person after another, I find myself being treated as the newcomer to the soup kitchen, one who is looking for a meal. I am treated gently and escorted to eat first after the children. I realize I am unable to tell who needs this meal tonight to keep from being hungry and who is here to welcome the hungry. All eat together, serve together and afterwards clean up together.
Manna Meal is located in the United Methodist Church at 845 6th Avenue in Sweet Home. They serve dinner on Fridays from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The food left from dinner is packaged to send home with people for the weekend.
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