J.R. Briggs
Attempting to behold the miracle long enough without falling asleep
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Food Drive for Manna on Main
One of the three local partnerships Renew has purposefully developed in Lansdale is with Manna on Main, the central food bank and soup kitchen in the region. This information came to me through Manna’s volunteer coordinator, Liz Coyne. I told her I’d get the word out about the needs at Manna. While this was written for Renew, I’d love to get the word out to as many people as possible.If you live in the Lansdale/North Penn region will you join us in helping out?
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Manna is having a food drive on August 8th, mainly because our shelves are historically bare during the late summer/early fall. When the food drive was still in the planning stages, we had a hard time deciding what geographic area to target. Obviously, our heart is in Lansdale – but we have such awesome support in such far-reaching communities, and so it was hard for us to pinpoint one location. So, we decided to put the food drive in the hands of our supporters. We are looking to people who already support Manna to spread the word about our services to their neighbors and circles of influence (like 2 or 3 degrees of separation). Thus, we developed the idea of a Community Captain.
As we wrote in our latest newsletter, Peter has already signed up to be a Community Captain. He picked up paper/plastic bags and brochures about the food drive at Manna, and then he pledged to drop one off at each house on his street. The brochures list details on Manna, the food drive, and what we are most in need of. There is also a spot for Peter to write his information (whatever he feels comfortable providing), and a spot for him to say what time he will return to pick up their food donations. He will then return on August 8th, and if the household has decided to donate food, they will leave it out for him to pick up in front of their house. If each home on Peter’s block donates two food items, he will deliver enough to feed a family of three people for one month!
Our goal is to collect 12,000 food items, and all donations are welcome! Renew Community members can get involved by signing up as Community Captains (just contact Liz to make sure we don’t already have a Captain on your street/neighborhood), or by helping us sort the donations on August 8th. My hope is to have refreshments and some fun entertainment to celebrate the efforts of the Community Captains as they return to Manna on 8th with their collections! Also, some businesses are getting involved by picking up 18-gallon tubs at Manna and putting them in a common location in their building. Also, the Lansdale Farmers Market will be a drop-off location on the 8th, so people can get a full dose of Lansdale fun that Saturday. Just let me know if any Renew members would like to get involved with any aspect of the August 8th Food Drive! I’d love to have you guys be a part of what I’m hoping will be a really fun and bountiful day!
If you’re interested contact Liz Coyne at liz@mannaonmain.org Manna will take all the help they can get.