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April 17, 2020 Dear Friends, MANNA is continuing to serve more clients than ever! MANNA has ordered a new delivery vehicle to meet this increase in demand. We are serving more than 1500 clients a week, which is a 20% increase in just one month. Next week marks National Volunteer Appreciation Week. Usually, that is a big week of celebration at MANNA, honoring the over 10,000 volunteers who have donated their time to MANNA during the last year. While it looks a bit different for us this year, what remains the same is the passion and love that our volunteers put into our client meals each and every day. I can’t help but feel that MANNA is so truly lucky to be part of a community that rallies around us and shows up when we need it most. From volunteers to supporters to donors to our friends on social media – we see you, we appreciate you, and we love you. We can’t say it enough – volunteers are essential. Please join me next week in showing our volunteers some “virtual love” on our Facebook page. As we sort out our new normal and what the coming year may hold, we know that one thing will not change: your incredible commitment to our mission. From one of our clients, Mary: “You don’t know how much of a blessing you are. I know everyone’s a volunteer, and I am just in awe. It is especially amazing now since I can’t go to the store. It’s just incredible.” From another of our clients, Gwendolyn: “Bless you for what you’re doing. I used to volunteer at MANNA years ago and now I’m getting the meals myself.”  If you are able, I invite you to contribute to our efforts amidst this crisis by either joining us as a volunteer or making a donation. From all of us – thank you and stay safe. Best Regards,

Sue Daugherty, RDN LDN MANNA CEO

April 10, 2020 Dear Friends, We’ve made it through another week! Thanks to the support from your generous donations and the hard work of 126 volunteers, we continue to deliver a record-breaking amount of meals. We are working hard to make sure the operational changes we are making are sustainable, and we are so grateful that our community has responded in such an incredible way. From individuals and families to local businesses and national corporations, we are truly blown away. Our clients have been calling to pass along their thanks to the entire MANNA family, and I wanted to pass along some of their messages. First, a message from Jesse: “The contactless delivery is so amazing. We are quarantined because of my chemo, and it’s so dangerous for me to have contact with anyone. The deliveries are consistent, and I love being able to wave and say thank you to the driver! The food is restaurant quality – honestly. Second to none. I am so impressed. I am so grateful. We really are stuck. We can’t go out at all – we can’t grocery shop. It’s impossible! Grocery shopping could kill me. I’m so shocked and impressed that my wife is able to get meals as well – I can’t thank you all enough for looking out for us.” Our sweet client Gloria turns 81 this weekend. As is MANNA tradition, we sent a cake and a card this week. She shared: “You made my day so happy for my 81st Birthday. I just want to say thank you for the birthday card, thank you for the birthday cake. You really made my 81st Birthday really special in the midst of all of this. To all of you – stay in good health. Thank you so much for your generosity, I do really appreciate it. God bless all of you.” If you are looking for a way to help as the weeks turn into months, I ask that you please consider  making a donation to support our efforts during this crisis. Thank you to the entire MANNA community for your support. From all of us – thank you and stay safe. Best Regards,

Sue Daugherty, RDN LDN MANNA CEO

April 3, 2020

Dear Friends,

We are ending another successful week of delivering 34,545 meals to MANNA’s clients and their families. This is a significant increase from just one month ago, and a sign of the stress this current crisis is putting on our community. We are seeing demand for our services rise, and with your help we are doing our best to meet the need. I cannot stress enough how grateful we are for the unwavering support of our greater MANNA community.

We have one final operational update this week that we wanted to share with you.

As of today, Friday, April 3, all MANNA staff and volunteers will be wearing face masks in our facility and while out on deliveries. This is for the safety of our clients, volunteers, and staff. MANNA continues to enforce social distancing practices in our facility and our No-Contact delivery policy. The use of face masks is an additional health and safety measure.

We will be providing masks, but volunteers are also welcome to bring their own. Masks should be worn at all times while in our facility, and absolutely no volunteer or staff is allowed in our kitchen without a mask.

Using guidance from the World Health Organization, MANNA has developed specific face mask guidelines and protocol for MANNA volunteers and staff. When arriving for your shift, you must wait for a member of the Volunteer Services team to review kitchen safety and mask protocol with the entire shift’s volunteers as a group before entering the kitchen.

Earlier this week, a grandmother caring for her grandchildren told us “Can I just say that you are the greatest blessing ever? I give the meals 6 stars out of 5.”

Another client wanted to pass along that “this is the nicest thing anyone’s done for me… I feel like someone’s looking out for me.”

And finally, “please thank everyone involved. You’re really helping a lot of people like me who need it.”

Thank you to the entire MANNA community for your support. If you are looking for a way to help, I ask that you please consider making a donation to support our efforts during this crisis.

From all of us – thank you and stay safe.

Best Regards,

Sue Daugherty, RDN LDN

MANNA CEO

March 31, 2020

Dear Friends,

We are so grateful for the outpouring of support we have received over the last few weeks, and are appreciative of your understanding as we work to be able to safely maintain our operations.

We are closely following local, state, and federal guidelines and are adapting each and every day to ensure the safety of our clients, volunteers, and staff.

We are continuing our “No Contact” client meal deliveries, and all client deliveries are proceeding on our normal schedule. We will also continue with our new hours of operation: Tuesday – Friday, opening at 7am and closing at 5pm.

We have made several changes to our operations and I wanted to outline them for you:

• MANNA’s volunteer drivers will not enter MANNA’s facility during pickup. Instead, our Distribution team bring the client deliveries, as well as gloves, directly to their vehicles.

• We are eliminating our 8am – 11am and 11am – 2pm volunteer shifts to allow us to best enforce social distancing in our kitchen. Remaining shifts have a hard cap at 15 volunteers per shift, to allow our chefs to space out volunteer tasks.

• We have instituted a pre-shift questionnaire in VolunteerHub, and all volunteers must register at manna.volunteerhub.com. No walk-in volunteers are allowed. 

If you are looking for a way to help from home, I invite you to make a donation to support our efforts.

From the whole MANNA team – thank you so much.

Best Regards,

March 24, 2020

Dear Friends,

We are strengthened by your incredible support over the last few weeks – your volunteer hours, donations, and social media love are helping us navigate this ever-changing time. Thank you so much.

Last Thursday, I was honored to be asked by the City of Philadelphia to represent the extraordinary community of non-profits in Philadelphia and speak about the importance of supporting our neighbors during this crisis. We were thrilled that city officials repeated that MANNA is an essential service provider and MANNA staff and volunteers are essential personnel.

I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on MANNA’s operations:

All client deliveries are proceeding as scheduled. Client deliveries take place Tuesday – Friday, and MANNA clients receive one delivery of 21 meals per week per client. We are continuing our “No Contact” deliveries for the safety of our clients and drivers. All clients also received their shelf-stable emergency meal box of one week’s worth of meals.

Until further notice, MANNA will be closed on Mondays. This will have no impact on our client deliver schedule, and will allow us to take further precautions in keep our staff and volunteers safe and healthy. We will continue our Tuesday through Friday volunteer shifts – though as previously announced, our evening volunteer shifts are eliminated until further notice. We appreciate your understanding of our evolving needs and schedule.

Though we are limiting the number of volunteers allowed in the kitchen at one time, we are inviting volunteers who are feeling healthy and not considered especially high risk by the CDC, to join us in the kitchen or on a delivery shift. Available shifts can be viewed at manna.volunteerhub.com, or give us a call at (215) 496-2662 x3.

MANNA was founded thirty years ago in the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis here in Philadelphia. A group of dedicated, passionate volunteers came together in a time of incredible fear and uncertainty. Coming together in a crisis is exactly what brought MANNA to life, and is exactly what will get us through this.

If you are looking for a way to help from home, I invite you to make a donation to support our efforts.

I thank you again for your support.

Best Regards,

Sue Daugherty, RDN LDN

MANNA CEO

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your incredible support of MANNA over the last several weeks. We will be providing frequent updates on our programs and operations in the coming days and weeks, and I wanted to share a few with you immediately.

• MANNA is an essential service provider. We will be open, and currently continuing to deliver 21 meals a week to our clients. The entire MANNA staff is still producing meals to be delivered.
• Each of our clients has received one week’s worth of shelf-stable meals in addition to their normal meal delivery. Therefore, each client has two weeks’ worth of meals on hand at any given time.
• We have adjusted our operating hours. MANNA will now be open from 7am – 5pm, Monday to Friday. Until further notice, all evening and Saturday volunteer shifts are eliminated.
• We are working to minimize person-to-person interaction for our clients. Our Distribution team is working hard to keep our clients safe during meal delivery. MANNA staff and volunteer drivers will be following social distancing guidelines.

If you are feeling healthy and not considered especially high risk by the CDC, we invite you to join us in the kitchen or on a delivery shift. Available shifts can be viewed at manna.volunteerhub.com, or give us a call at (215) 496-2662 x3.

For the last 30 years, MANNA has felt incredibly championed by our Philadelphia-area community – and we are certainly feeling your support during this time of uncertainty. We so appreciate everyone who has reached out to help, volunteered, and donated to our operations.

I thank you again for your support and will be in touch in the coming days.

Best Regards,

Sue Daugherty, RDN, LDN