Giving back: MANNA nourishes Philadelphians in need

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (WTXF) - Sue Daugherty, the CEO of MANNA took some time to share the mission of the organization.

"MANNA…we are all about food is medicine. We provide therapeutic meals to, right now, about 1200 of our neighbors who are fighting the fight for their lives."

Making a difference is what MANNA does. Every day they prepare fresh, healthy and absolutely free meals for people who often are either too sick or require a specialized diet so expensive that makes it impossible to care for themselves.

It's an amazing mission that requires a significant number of volunteers.

"We're a relatively small staff, there are 36 of us but there are 4500 active volunteers. Every single day this kitchen is filled with 100 or 150 individuals who come here and know they're making a difference in someone's life."

Recognizing the impact that MANNA has daily and the need for volunteers, several members of the FOX 29 family came together for a company-wide initiative, 21st Century Fox Impact Week, to try to contribute in some small way to their service to community.

While there, we met Executive Chef Keith Lucas.

"You wanna give back to your community, you wanna do good for people who can't help themselves and this is a good way to do that."

Chef Keith took control of preparing the meals and on this scale, that's not an easy task. In just a few short hours, we prepared meals for nearly one thousand people. The ability to help others was motivating to all volunteers as Siyeda Daniels explained.

"People who have health issues a lot of time it's so hard to get energy for any little thing let alone cook and nourish yourself."

But, for people who are considering volunteering, I can tell you honestly, the FOX 29 team had a great time.

1 million meals per year to people with serious health concerns should be enough for all of us to want to support MANNA's mission but hopefully showing you how much we enjoyed joining the thousands of volunteers will encourage you to consider doing the same…for goodness sake.

Interested in volunteering for MANNA? See here.