Manna Meal

shoppers who didn't know they wanted to string beans today

Taken a break to enjoy some ice cream Know the Bible story about the miracle of the loaves and fishes? Manna Meal experienced its own miracle of the stringbeans on Saturday, July 31. There were no beans to be found in Charleston on Friday just hours before the well publicized Bean String’in event that was to fill the soup kitchen freezer for cold winter months. Jean Simpson, Executive Director of Manna Meal scoured the Capitol Market and called area produce wholesalers without finding any beans….No, not one. Can’t get em, she was told. The event was about to be beanless when Judy Gancs of Robbie’s Produce dropped off 5 cases of string’in beans as a donation an hour before the event ….later it was noticed that nearly all the Market vendors had and were selling beans to support the event. They never ran out of beans all day long and now the soup kitchen walk-in freezer is packed with produce frozen for winter. It took a community of friends and supporters to make this event a huge success….and successful it was…..if you attended or participated in any way YOU were part of the miracle of the stringbeans…where did all those stringbeans come from?

Taken a break to enjoy some ice cream

Tammy brought a whole gang

This is actually fun

enjoying good conversation

Extention Agents and Master Gardeners helped out

Mom and son spending quality time

The deck was a great place to sit and string beans

Family stringin can be educational too

These ladies from Madison incorporated string'in into their marketing day

Mom said her son wanted to watch the musicians

Living4Hymn donated a 2.5 hour set

some mighty pretty bean stringers

Manna Meal Bean String’in helped fill the freezer for winter. The total weight on the beans after strung was 300 lbs And 40 lb of corn. It was a great afternoon at the Capitol Market and the music was wonderful.  Thanks to all who participated and many thanks to Living4 Hymn for donating their time and talent.

Many, Many, Many thanks What a blessing  all the volunteers were that day……..

And the girls and guy that blanched and froze all the beans and corn that late afternoon in the Manna Meal kitchen.

working over boiling pots of water, blanching beans

Packing blanched beans for freezing

Rev. Jim Lewis & James Martin

Board Member & Volunteer Hit Hunger Out of the Park took place on July 1, at the WV Power baseball game. It was a beautiful evening for a baseball game and to honor all of our volunteers. The evening was two-fold as our volunteers were honored during pregame with a slide show presentation and grateful words read from the announcer. The Annie Campbell Legacy Award was created in memory of Annie who volunteered daily at Manna Meal for over 30 years. The first recipient of the award was James Martin, a 27 year volunteer. James was presented a plaque from the staff of Manna Meal and an autographed bat from the 2010 WV Power team. All the volunteers and crowd cheered as James threw out the first pitch. The evening was also a fundraiser for Manna Meal, with donations being received and raffle tickets sold for a chance at winning an autographed baseball or bat from the Power team. This was our first year to combine our volunteer recognition and a Summer fundraiser. Manna Meal staff and Board of Directors would especially like to thank Allen & Peggy Johnston for making our “sea of green” possible. There was no doubt that Manna Meal was in the house with 500 t-shirts being worn!

Rev. Jim Lewis, founder of Manna Meal presenting the Annie Campbell Legacy Award to James Martin, 27 year volunteer

More of Manna Meal's awesome volunteers

Pregame Volunteer Recognition

A look at our "Sea of Green"

Victoria, Barbara, Janet, Elizabeth, Sarah & Bob

Rev. Jim Lewis (founder of Manna Meal) & Judy Lewis, Board Member & Volunteer

More smiles for Manna Meal

Jean and Mr. Volt

Bobby & Brenda

Bob Rodecker, President & Rhondell Miller, Outreach Coordinator

All smiles for Manna Meal

Looking great in their green!

James Martin throwing out the first pitch

Melvin working the crowd for donations!

Visiting before the game

Angela Rexroad with cabbage plants

The early 8:30 AM gardening hour was planned to allow work to be done in the cool of the morning…there was plenty of dew on the garden….or maybe all the plants were just sweating. It didn’t take long for everyone to join the ranks of the perspiration-drenched workers in the great out of doors today. Spirits were not dampened however. Mike Green of Green’s Feed Store gave us 3 trays of late flat dutch cabbage this morning, and we got busy and planted the stunted, hole-riddled plants with the prayer they would be blessed to produce heads. We filled one entire raised bed with them…tucking each into a hole with rich mulch and a little drink of fish emulsion and spritz of bT to deter the cabbage moths. More could not have been done to give them a happy home. Empty sections of garden–here a little, there a little–were tilled and cabbage plants lovingly were tucked into new homes to grow….some lucky ones got to go under the shade of the sunflowers that towered overhead. There was minimal harvesting this morning but a lot of hard work rendered. What a great sweaty team we had today! The team: Eleanor Spohr, Judy Darr, Angela Rexroad, Jay Rexroad, Martha Mallan, Liz Hereford, B. Peyton Forbes, Nancy Broyles, Tom and Myra. Jean was excused today.

Eleanor Spohr planted cabbage today

Nancy Broyles helping with the cabbage planting

Jay & Angela Rexroad, Nancy Broyles, Martha Mallan, Judy Darr