Four years of Manna Ministries in Leland

September 2012, marks the 4th anniversary of Manna Ministries, the Leland Area food pantry. What started as a pilot project has become a monthly event in Old Leland.

How it started

In April of 2008, several pastors and church leaders were gathered together to speak with the executive leadership of Shallotte based, Brunswick Family Assistance, regarding community assistance needs. One of the pastors suggested that the area was in real need of a food pantry. Plans were then laid out to “try out” a pantry in the Fall of 2008, with the backing of Brunswick Family Assistance.

A goal of feeding 100 families a month was set, with an estimated need of $900 per month in food or cash. After working all summer to raise awareness and food supplies, the group was still over $700 short. Just days before the first food distribution, a phone call came in from an acquaintance of one of the pastors, asking for a quick meeting. At the meeting, the individual said that they were touched by a recent message about the food pantry. Their family had to make tough choices when they were growing up, and the need struck a chord. At the meeting, the person said “I decided to give you my ‘mad’ money. I was going to spend it on things for me. I want you to have it for the food pantry.” It was $750 - exactly enough to meet the financial goal for the first month.

This was just one of the MANY small miracles that have occurred since we started.

We didn’t build this – God did!

After an encouraging visit by our local congressman, he commented that it was truly a “loaves and fishes” miracle at work.

The food pantry was first held monthly, outdoors, on the grounds of Victory Church on Wayne Street in Leland. The weather extremes are brutal, but the volunteers are always steadfast in their task.

Amazingly, it did not rain on the day of the food distribution, from October 2008 to December 2011. One time it rained right up to 9 am when the pantry starts, and then quit until after everything was cleaned up. Another time it misted off and on, but it did not rain.  In August of 2011, hurricane Irene closed the whole town, so we did not serve at all that month.  It has not rained since.

God Changes Wrong To Right

One day, one of the volunteers received a phone call, it was a wrong number. The caller was actually looking for a specific charity in Wilmington, so they could give a donation. The volunteer struck up a conversation and said, “Maybe this call was not a coincidence, let me tell you about our local food pantry…” This turned into a monthly commitment that has been much more than a wrong number.

In November of 2008, when the volunteers came to unlock and set up, there was already a line of over 100 waiting in sub-freezing temperatures. The pantry gave out all they had and sent for more. In less than two hours, the fledgling pantry had given out groceries to 225 families. The volunteers restocked and re-opened 3 days later and served 50 more families.

Looking back, the economy crashed the autumn of 2008. We didn’t know it at the time, but our neighbors were feeling it. In God’s providence, He began planning for the need in the Spring of 2008.  Since then, over a dozen churches, neighborhoods, businesses, civic, political and even government organizations have come to help – all in the name of Jesus.

Serving Every Day

EACH DAY, volunteers also receive bread from a local bakery and drive all over the area distributing it to central meeting places, organizations and individuals. This daily network of neighbors helping neighbors is also part of the ministry. It was Jesus who said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

In January of 2011, Manna moved to the back door of Closer Walk Church, behind the Food Lion on Village Road.  Our gracious hosts have provided cabinets, tables, helpers and energy – all for free.  We are so grateful!  In June of 2011, Manna became a stand-alone organization.  We are very thankful for the help received from Brunswick Family Assistance to get us started.  We thank God for making this
ministry thrive.

Thank you to our monthly donors:

A special thanks go out to all the others who give, and work quietly in the background.

Each month we average 100 families who come to receive food and we serve them all with love and patience, in less than two hours.  Each family receives a box of food appropriate to the number of people in the home.  Since we began in 2008, our food expenses have risen from $900 a month in the early days to $1600 today, yet God has provided!

Unfortunately the economy in our area has not improved.  Unemployment for August 2012 is still high – 11%.  This is the same as it was 2 years ago (June 2010) and just a small improvement over February 2009 (11.2%).

What’s Next?

We will continue to do what God has given us to do.  We also have three NEW goals for the next 12 months:

1) Back-pack Food: We are going to start a back-pack food ministry for one of the local elementary schools.  This new work will allow these school children to have food EACH WEEKEND during the school year.  This will require WEEKLY food purchases, back-pack pickup, stuffing and drop off.  This will require a great deal of human resources.

2) Daily Gleanings: In addition to the DAILY bread pick-up we now have, we will soon have an opportunity to pick-up “gleanings” from an additional location – DAILY.  These gleanings will include meat that needs to be frozen until we can get it distributed.  This will require additional volunteers EACH DAY who have access to a freezer.

3) From Needy to Needed:  We want to encourage more of our recipients to move from the receiving line to the volunteer line.  We have already implemented an “invitation” opportunity for those who are regular recipients and seem to be in good health.  We have seen many attitudes change, when an individual transitions from NEEDY to NEEDED.

Will you pray with us?

If you know someone in need, more information can be found on the web at
http://www.mannaleland.org.

His servant,

Thanks to a gift from the New Comers Group and a month long food drive by Crosswinds Church, the Manna Ministries food pantry has stayed full this Summer.

We have been averaging around 95 needy families with each distribution.

The next distribution is July 28th from 9am to 11am at the back door of Closer Walk Church, 117-c Village Rd, Leland. If you have any food to drop off, the back door will be open at 7:30pm on Monday, July 23rd. You may also drop food at the Leland Library, ECB Bank, and Asset Storage.

Unemployment for Brunswick County ticked back up to 10.3% in May (FRED Economic Data). Many housing construction workers who have not had steady work in 4 years, and don’t qualify for unemployment benefits, have stopped looking for work. Over the whole country, only 2000 housing construction jobs were created last month. A local community college teacher has been advising graduates of the trade school to look for jobs elsewhere.

We are keeping a close eye on House bill H.R. 6083 which is targeting a $16 billion cut to Food Stamps (SNAP), the second largest entitlement program in the country. This will put more pressure on the local community food pantries like Manna. We are seeing a number of seniors who do not qualify for Food Stamps already, simply because they own their home.

Please pray for your single parent neighbors where the man has left the scene. PBS reported that nationally, over 30% of such families are living in poverty. According to the US Census, 13.5% of residents in Brunswick County live in poverty. At Leland’s Lincoln Elementary School, 95% of the children are on free or assisted lunch – the highest in the county.

March 2012

A lot has happened since our last communication. Unemployment in Brunswick County shot up again – to 13% - the highest in over two years. Fuel and food prices are going ever higher, but thanks to our loving community, and God’s provision, our donations are keeping up. West Port community just did a food drive and partially restocked our shelves last week. Thank you West Port!  We are also thankful for our relationship with our local Piggly Wiggly who has been giving us excellent service. 

We are now averaging around 100 families receiving food and about $1300 a month in food costs above and beyond our actual food donations. We are going to have to cut back on some of our more expensive commodities like canned meat, due to costs. We have dipped into our end of year donations deeply, but we are keeping up well. We will be publishing our financials online in the next couple of weeks. Remember – 100% of undesignated donations go to food and 100% of the food stays in North Brunswick County.

The Leland Area Walgreens have given us an opportunity to place our donation box at both locations in April. We are needing some folks to man our station on the front sidewalk each of the weekends in April. If you or your organization would be able to do so, it is a great way to get the word out to the community. Please give Ron Deaton a call (910-398-7507) to schedule your time.

This Saturday, March 24^th is our next Manna distribution. A few volunteers from Crossway Church in Wilmington will be joining us, as well as Webelos Cub Scouts from Pack 747 doing service for a badge. There is always room for another smiling face to be the eyes and hands of Jesus. If your church or civic group would like to sign up to volunteer, please send an e-mail to Pastor@MannaLeland.org . Volunteers: plan on arriving to set up at 8:00 am. Tear down begins around 10:45am. Help us pray the rain away!

Thank you to our monthly donors:

Closer Walk Church – facilities and breakfast cereal

Grace Point Church – peanut butter

Oasis Church – Mac and Cheese

Zion UMC – rice

Leland Church of God – pasta sauce

James M. (Mesa, AZ) – brown beans

Rose family – fresh meat

NUMEROUS – monetary donors – we love you all!

For those in our close knit family, we have been praying for Marie C.s’ health.  Marie is wife of Bob C. our “meat man”. Marie is now healing at home with her husband and Bob will be at his station handing out meat on Saturday morning. Praise the Lord!

Pastor Jay Merritt

Pastor@MannaLeland.org

https://www.facebook.com/groups/mannaleland/

http://www.MannaLeland.org

Manna Ministries c/o Closer Walk Church, 117-C Village Road, Leland, NC., 28451

Manna - In the News

Pastor Jay has been elected to a three year term to the board of North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce.  Click for story

Our Easter Dinner Giveaway was a huge success.  Over 500 meals were handed out!  Thanks to Faith Building Ministries of Ocean Isle Beach.

Click for coverage on WECT Channel 6 website.

Manna Ministries and Pastor Jay were recognized in April 2009 with a local award by WECT Channel 6 in Wilmington. 

See the LINK for story & video.

Manna Ministry Article in North Brunswick Magazine - Winter 2008/2009

See Link Here

And in Si Cantwell's Star News "Here Now" blog

See Link Here

Off The Wahl - Confessions of a Spiritual Snob

Doug Wahl was a guest in October 2008 and wrote this entry in his blog in December

Click Here

Pastor Jay and his wife Diane were on channel 6 news, Nov, 18th.

Click Here to see the text of the broadcast then click the "video gallery" to view the broadcast.

Partnership with Brunswick Family Assistance
Victory Free Will Baptist Church has been selected as the location for the local outreach office for Brunswick Family Assistance. Executive Director Joe Cannon and board member Lessie Butler met with Pastor Jay on Thursday, Feb 28th to make the arrangements.

Brunswick Family Assistance will be present to meet the needs of the local community each Tuesday from 12:30 pm to 4:00 pm and each Thursday from 9:00 am to Noon.

This began Tuesday, April 1st.

Once this change has been implemented soundly, a monthly food distribution will be added to the list of local services provided.

Victory Free Will Baptist Church is excited about this new partnership and looks forward to assisting in the process and helping the people of our area.

Click for Press Release