MANNA Celebrates 10 Million Meals Served

The local nonprofit serves meals to area residents with life-threatening diseases, like HIV, cancer and diabetes.

This month, the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutritional Alliance MANNA, the local nonprofit that cooks, packages and delivers meals to local residents with life-threatening diseases, hit a mega milestone when it served its 10-millionth meal. And organizers are celebrating with, you guessed it, a meal!

Today, at their headquarters at 23rd and Ranstead, Mayor Nutter and Camden Mayor Dana Redd will mark the occasion with MANNA at a sit down luncheon with current clients and recovered ones. Executive Director Sue Daugherty says the charity tracks the number of meals through a database system that organizes service to its 875 clients. She estimates that the nonprofit currently serves 65,000 meals a month to patients with diseases like HIV, cancer and diabetes, and their efforts are really paying off. “Research is showing now that people receiving MANNA meals recuperate more quickly, spend less time in the hospital, are less likely to be re-admitted and more likely to be released directly to their homes instead of long-term-care centers,” she says.

All the meals served are completely free to patients, which means support from donors and volunteers is crucial. To find out how you can lend money and time to MANNA, go here. There are lots of positions available — from preparing food to delivering it to clients throughout the region.

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