Helping People Help Themselves
For a group of volunteers in Perth, feeding 600 people a week is not work, its a ministry, as Candice Jaques of ADRA-Australia discovered.
Manna Ministries began as a simple soup kitchen, feeding a few homeless people an inner-city park. Then, in 2005, Manna acquired a building to expand its program, which feeds 600 people a week.
With the help of a trade union, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and individual donations of money and time, the building was fitted out with a commercial kitchen, which is helping those homeless people to escape the poverty cycle.
The homeless now participate by working with other volunteers to prepare the food and serve the meals. Through these activities, participants learn how to work as a team and communicate better.
The kitchen also provides opportunity for participants to earn a TAFE Kitchen Hand Certificate.
Manna Ministries also provides “Breakfast Clubs” in three schools, serving 320 breakfasts a week, providing for children who may not receive an adequate nutritional start to the day.
(Anecdotal evidence from similar breakfast programs reveal that children receiving a proper breakfast exhibit better behaviour and demonstrate better learning as a result.) As a follow-up on the Breakfast Club in one school, Manna also runs a fortnightly Kids Club. Kids Club provides community children with fun activities, such as singing, tactile crafts and stories.
A meal is also served to the children.
All of Manna Ministries programs are run by volunteers, who come from a range of backgrounds. Weeknights the feeding program is cared for by students and teachers from five different high schools. The kitchen also uses volunteers from service clubs, such as Rotary, and students studying social welfare at a local university where a stint as a “volunteer” with Manna Ministries is a compulsory service component of study.
The Breakfast Clubs and Kids Club also utilise the skills of enthusiastic volunteers, who serve meals or facilitate activities.
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)– Australia is proud to support Manna Ministries in its effort to empower people and transform communities.
One of ADRA’s aims is to improve the quality of life of those who participate in community-development programs.
Manna Ministries achieves this, not just for those in need but also for those who surrender time and talent for the good of others.
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