Mini-Doc

Over the past couple months, I have gotten the opportunity to research the non-profit scene of Philadelphia. An organization I was able to partner to create a mini-documentary was MANNA. As I collaborate with more non-profits, more videos will be added!

Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance

MANNA is a non-profit organization based in Philadelphia which provides medically tailored meals and nutrient education to up to 1200 people at a time. It is an organization which is fighting food insecurity issues and promoting health equity.

Volunteer at MANNA: https://mannapa.org/volunteer/volunteer-at-manna/

Transcript:

MANNA is an organization that prepares and delivers medically tailored meals to folks experiencing critical illness. We were in 1990 out of the HIV/AIDS epidemic – so that was the primary population we were working with, delivering food, nourishment, comfort to folks who were isolated or homebound due to their condition. Since then we have obviously expanded our mission. S now we are working with anyone with an acute nutritional risk due to their condition. If clients have cancer, diabetes, HIV/Aids, renal disease, anything where they have a specific nutritional requirement to treat their condition. Our team of dieticians and nutritionists work one on one with our clients and their healthcare providers to make sure that the food we are providing to them fits those specific requirements and we work to get them back to health.

When MANNA was founded, it was a group of volunteers working out of the basement of the first Presbyterian church of Philadelphia. They saw this need in their community, that there were folks who were isolated, homebound, in need of comfort and care, and they worked to fill that gap. Since then we have grown quite exponentially, founded as non-profit, moved around in different buildings, kept outgrowing spaces, until this current space we are in now. We are able to serve about 1200 clients on our program at any given time.

We are an almost entirely volunteer powered organization, and volunteers have been an important part of our organization. It’s very core to the experience of MANNA. Volunteers work preparing our meals. They work under the supervision of our chefs, and they also work out in the community delivering meals to our clients.

Our volunteers are definitely a diverse cohort, which is wonderful. It is a big mix of comporate groups coming in from corporations, like Comcast, NBC, our health partners. We have lots of students and school groups come and volunteer, whether high school, college, graduate, medical school. We have religious groups that come in and volunteer – so that’s about half of our volunteering is those organized groups. And then the other half are individuals that come here to volunteer because they love the social connections, because they love the work that they are doing, because they feel an attachment to MANNA’s mission. They are an incredible piece of that core group of volunteers. We also work with other organizations that create volunteer opportunities such as Carousel Connections, PEP, Community Integrative Services – these are groups which work with folks on the autism spectrum or have another intellectual disability. They work towards skill training, getting folks comfortable to working with other people, work in a commericial kitchen environment, and get them ready to live a life of independence. That’s just another piece of the MANNA volunteer puzzle that just makes this community incredible and diverse.

There is so much going on in the public health space. MANNA is just one of many organizations that is doing this incredible work on the ground. You can always get invovled. Organizations like MANNA are reliant on volunteers to provide our services, to stay afloat, and that’s also part of the magic. It’s hard to quantify that in an academic research study but clients can feel it.

One of the most famous quotes around here, came from a client, called and left a voicemail and said “The food is great, the love is better.” I think that’s really the magic of MANNA. We are so much more than feeling in those gaps. We’re getting people back on their feet. But beyond that, providing that comfort, that care, that nourishment – both physically and spiritually and emotionally. It’s hard to quantify, but that’s the magic. People can be part of that. These aren’t closed doors. There’s always a way to provide that nourishment, to nourish our neighbors, whether you are involved in MANNA or in your own life. But we would obviously love to have you join us here, so check out our website, and come join us as a volunteer.

Thank you to the MANNA Institute, the Hoesley Digital Literacy Fellowship, and the University of Pennsylvania Libraries for the supporting this mini-documentary. Special thanks to Dr. Amanda Licastro for providing us access to so many resources and being an amazing mentor.

VK FILMS