We are very thankful for our generous community over the years. These past two years of pandemic have stretched our ability to respond to the needs in our community. While we’ve not been able to independently meet on Saturdays as we’ve done in the past, we have been responding to phone requests and operating upon the invitation at the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen and an RV park on Smithers Road.
Sadly, the Covid restrictions have made it impossible for us to offer meaningful participation for our volunteers to build relationships with our friends. The Covid pandemic also isolated many of our vulnerable/traumatized contacts which has resulted in the tragic loss of 20 friends through opioid overdose. The resulting emotional impact upon our marginalized community is hard for me to fathom. Safe to say, many have expressed feeling abandoned, forgotten, anxious, and invisible. Their appreciation for Manna just “being there” is palpable each week – Thank you for making it possible to provide a steady positive support!
We’ve drawn on past years of budget surplus to help us purchase the necessary resources this year. Our grocery expenses doubled to over $93,000 while our donations were $83,000. [This doesn’t include the expenses for our van, for gas, insurance, and maintenance] Fortunately, when we purchase food wholesale from QF, we are able to increase our resource availability, and QF will often subtract a percentage of the purchase as their donation to Manna.
So, for each dollar donated to Manna, QF makes it possible for us to purchase $1.30 of groceries. In other words, you get more “Bang for your Buck” by making a cash donation than you do if you donate canned food.
Our hope for the coming year is twofold: first, as the pandemic recedes, people will experience a lessening sense of anxiety and a greater propensity toward self-care; and second, with greater self-care, we can include with our grocery items those that also promote self-sufficiency, like flour with baking supplies and dried beans for soups.
