Written by Melissa Karen Sances
Photos by Nikki Gardner Photography

Sponsored by Valley Home Improvement

Published in Northampton Living (November 2022)

Today’s meal is New Orleans dirty rice with a garlic aioli served over spinach. Start with a side salad or some fruit. Room for dessert? How about locally sourced fruit pie.  

 Welcome to Manna.

 It’s a Monday in September and lunch is in full swing. A volunteer stands at the door of the community kitchen, greeting guests by their first names and fielding special requests. A vegetarian option? No problem. An extra meal to take home? Of course. Across the hall, in the dining room, tin plates are lined up in long rows on gray tables, waiting to be bagged and handed to guests, or collected later by delivery drivers.

 Monday’s meal usually begins at 11:30 a.m., but it got a late start today because the chef’s first crack at the Cajun-style rice, inspired by a recent trip to Louisiana, took a little longer than expected. He’s not an expert by any means, Lee Anderson tells me seriously before joining the bustling volunteers to help them catch up. In fact, though he’s cooked about 130 meals per day, six days per week for the past four years, he doesn’t like to call himself a chef. He is always learning at Manna – about what to feed people, and more importantly, how.

 That morning, as they do most mornings, Anderson and fellow cook Laura Manning arrived at Restaurant Depot at 7 a.m. to gather ingredients for the day’s meal. Back at the kitchen, they incorporated seasonal fruits and veggies from Grow Food Northampton and any dessert donations (today’s are courtesy of Pie Bar) to build a filling and nutritious menu. At 8:30 a.m. first-shift volunteers joined the cooks and began prep work. Anderson asked Alexa – who is permanently stationed in the window between the kitchen and the dining room – to play Aerosmith’s “Dream On.”

On its best days, Anderson told me while the rice took its time, a meal can be a catalyst for conversation and connection. One day a young German guest told him that his mom used to make him Rouladen. “So I’m talking to him, pretending I know what he’s talking about,” the cook told me. “I had to go home and Google it and it was steak that was pounded out, and you could fill it … then roll it up and sear and slow roast it.” When he debuted the dish the next day, the guest was close to tears. “Why would you do that?” he asked Anderson. “Well first of all,” he replied, “it was fun. It was a challenge. Second of all, because you said you liked it. Why wouldn’t I?”

After getting to know his new friend, who was struggling to make ends meet, Anderson wanted to do more. He suggested that he apply for fuel assistance. But the next day, when his young friend arrived for the meal, he reported that after taking two buses to Holyoke and standing in a 20-person line, he was told he didn’t qualify for help. He felt humiliated. “His question to me, which really hurt my heart,” Anderson told me, “was ‘Why would you do that to me?’”

What if the stigma and shame often associated with need could be eliminated? Anderson thought. What if guests could come for a meal and save time and energy by addressing related needs in one space? Questions like these motivated Manna to connect with the Mayor’s office and other Northampton nonprofits to provide multiple services under one roof. Manna has been feeding the community for 35 years, but in the past year it has evolved from a community kitchen into a community center, or what Anderson calls an “interim resiliency hub.”

Today, after guests enjoy their food at tables outside, some will stay past lunch to visit the center in the basement of the building. There is more nourishment there. Dr. Jessica Bossie, founder of Independent Housing Solutions, is on-hand if guests would like a wellness check. Jess Tilley, a community center staff member, can help with registering for MassHealth. There’s also a washer and dryer, a hot shower, clean bathrooms, and access to the Internet. There are donated clothes and tents. And there’s a cozy living room where guests can chat or curl up on the couch and take a nap.

“Back when my husband and I were just starting out, we struggled financially so Manna would have been a great place for us,” says Kaitlyn Ferrari, Manna’s Director of Development, who has now lived in Northampton for 20 years. She wasn’t aware of Manna until her friend Kate Cardoso, the current board president, encouraged her to volunteer three years ago. Now it is Ferrari’s mission to let people know that Manna wants to help.

All services are no-questions-asked, funded by generous donations and almost entirely provided by volunteers. About 30 guests a day frequent the community center, and the kitchen serves 1,200 meals per week, 400 of which are delivered to guests who may be in COVID isolation, wheelchair-bound, or unable to travel due to weather or rising transportation costs.

Soon Manna will gear up for its biggest meal of the year, Thanksgiving. Last year nearly 900 meals were served or delivered and almost 200 volunteers worked for four days to prep, cook, bag, serve and drive. Manna welcomes volunteers and donations for their largest meal, and for all meals and services at www.mannanorthampton.org.

Today’s lunch is over; second-shift servers have been relieved by third-shift dishwashers. The community center will close at 3 p.m., and tomorrow Anderson will dream up a new meal. If it’s a good day, someone will feel a little fuller, a little less lonely, a little more human.