It’s been “pretty miraculous†for Manna Meal to identify a new indoor space less than a month after pausing indoor service, Amy Wolfe, the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä nonprofit’s executive director, said.
This past weekend, Manna Meal started serving meals at the Shrewsbury Street entrance of the Garnet Career Center, 422 Dickinson St., a historic former Black high school and Kanawha County Schools adult education center.
Food is prepared at St. John’s Episcopal Church but finished and served from Manna Meal’s food truck at the building. Clients may go inside a window-filled, spacious garage — a former learning space for auto mechanics students — to eat and warm up in the winter.
Manna Meals new home is Garnet Career Center. Here Manna Meal recipients eat in the former auto repair shop at the center on Dec. 4, 2023.
Gazette-Mail file photo
Space to stretch out
The space is still a little rough around the edges, but clients like Michael Layne are just happy to get out of the elements. Since early November, Manna Meal has been only serving out its food trucks outside the Equinox Men’s Shelter, 505 Leon Sullivan Way, and the former Save-A-Lot on the West Side.
On Monday, Layne sat on a folding chair at a black, round table reading a Star Trek paperback with his lunch.
As the weather gets worse, it’s difficult to find a place to sit on the pavement and eat, he said. The tables and chairs give him a place to sit and set his belongings down. He’s also excited for a lending library to come back to the space — something he used at the St. John’s location.
He said he never had trouble at the St. John’s location. People would argue sometimes, but he stayed out of it. Children at the nearby facilities would watch as he fed bread to pigeons while waiting for the bus.
When the St. John’s location shut down, Layne and other clients were concerned Manna Meal would discontinue services altogether.
“Some of us were wondering if [a new location] would ever happen, or if we would be stuck out there standing in the blowing snow in the middle of winter,†he said.
Layne said many people think only unhoused people use Manna Meal’s services. But there are people like him with a limited income who come and eat.
Wolfe said around 60% of Manna Meal’s clientele are unhoused. The rest are folks “truly living paycheck to paycheck.â€
Layne’s been coming to Manna Meal for 15 years and enjoys eating with some other regulars. He said he had been able to see one of his friends from Manna Meal for the first time in three and a half weeks.
“I was starting to get worried about him,†he said.
Garnet Career Center is the new home of Manna Meal.
KENNY KEMP | Gazette-Mail
Coming back inside
Wolfe said the transition to the food truck was especially hard on the older population that uses Manna Meal.
“A lot of our elderly, although they depend on us, were choosing to not come because it was too difficult for them to stand and eat after they had made their way here,†she said.
Saturday, the first day at the new location, 388 meals were served, most for lunch. For the beginning of the month, this was a little slow, she said. However, some folks on the West Side may not come over now that food truck service is running seven days a week.
Clients were happy to be out the elements and for the sense of community, Wolfe said. She got to see them talk and laugh together.
“It was really a very humbling experience over the weekend,†she said.
Manna Meal food truck hands out meals Monday during lunchtime outside of Garnet Career Center.
KENNY KEMP | Gazette-Mail
Gratitude for Garnet
Manna Meal is leasing the east half of a garage added on to the Garnet Center. Manna Meal was already leasing space at St. John’s and continues to lease space there for food preparation and storage.
Board president and Garnet alumni Don Epps said the board saw Manna Meal had a need and believed his group could help fill that.
The foundation’s goal is to preserve and promote the history of the building, said Ellen Mills Pauley, board secretary. Along with a museum about the school, the board would like to house nonprofits that serve the community. The leases help pay utilities, Pauley said. Manna Meal is the first tenant.
Pauley said the board discussed the pros and cons of the decision. Wolfe said she was able to share the complexities of her work.
“They really have embraced it and want to help the community,†she said.
Epps said he had no concerns with providing Manna Meal a space.
“I would hope it would be something that would really benefit ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä — that it could grow into something greater,†he said.
Pauley said that in her opinion, Manna Meal deserves its own permanent structure.
“In the meantime, they have a need, we had a solution,†she said. “We’re happy to help them out through this time.â€
Wolfe said she was grateful for the foundation’s board and the speed with which they worked.
“Our next challenge is to identify a long-term space that could either be here or somewhere else,†she said.
Marc Kulansky is able to sit indoors while eating his Manna Meal lunch at the Garnet Career Center.
KENNY KEMP | Gazette-Mail
Settling in
The transition into the new space happened quickly, and there are definitely still things to iron out. There’s only one bathroom, there’s not much artificial lighting, and there’s a lot logistically involved with bringing the food over twice a day.
“We weren’t expecting to put them in as quickly as we did, so the place is a little rough around the edges,†said Pauley. “But I think it’s a nice, warm, homey place, and we welcome them to Garnet.â€
Clients are already turning it into a new home. People are coming in to warm up, charge their phones, chat with friends and grab a coffee.
Wolfe said the new location is great because of its proximity to other services like St. Marks United Methodist Church, Covenant House and other shelters. There’s also more room to spread out inside the garage, she said.
Wolfe paid off-duty ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä police officers for security over the weekend and will continue to do so throughout the week.
So far, she’s only heard good feedback from the neighbors and plans to address any concerns before they become real issues.
‘How the hell can you not like it?’
Marc Kulansky, who lives at a nearby Veterans Affairs transitional housing facility, eats at Manna Meal before he goes to work at Goodwill. He said he didn’t know what was going on when Manna Meal initially transitioned to the food truck.
“Compared to where they were out on the street, this is great,†he said, adding that the new location is right around the corner from where he lives.
Monday, he grabbed some extra meals for fellow residents, and his own dinner.
“In a way, it’s good over here because it gets everybody off the street,†he said. “They come over here and eat for nothing. How the hell can you not like it?â€
If you go
Manna Meal, 422 Dickinson St. (enter from the Shrewsbury Street side)
Hours: 7:30 to 9 a.m. (breakfast) and 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (lunch)
