Manna Meal

Bare Bones A’cappella/Gospel/Folk Trio  and  Martin Luther King Jr. Male Chorus

Manna Meal, Charleston’s oldest and largest soup kitchen, is proud to announce a spring concert event to help raise funds and awareness for the Charleston’s area hungry and homeless populations.  

On Saturday, March 20, 2010, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Charleston will be treated to the musical stylings of two of Charleston best musical ensembles: Bare Bones and The Martin Luther King Jr. Male Chorus. 

Bare Bones, a trio featuring Becky & Bill Kimmons and Mark Davis, will perform a diverse array of musical styles, from A’cappella, gospel and folk.  For over 27 years the group was known as “The Missing Person Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet” and then simply as “The Soup Kitchen” before taking the name Bare Bones in 2007.   The new name celebrates the glories of the unadorned chord being the “bare bones of music.”

Joining the event will be Charleston’s famous Martin Luther King Jr. Male Chorus.  The Martin Luther King Jr. Chorus was formed in 1996 to participate in the celebration of the Rev. King’s birthday.   The chorus is directed by Leroy Robinson.  The ensemble is composed of ministers and lay leaders from various church denominations in the Charleston area.

On March 20^th the doors of St. John’s Episcopal Church, located at 1105 Quarrier St. in downtown Charleston, will open at 6:30 PM.   The concert will begin at 7:00 PM and the general public is encouraged to attend.  Donations are welcome, but not mandatory to attend.  Following the concert there will be a short reception in Hunter Hall.  

Manna Meal is a non-profit organization founded in 1978 and housed in St. John’s Episcopal Church.  Their mission is to serve anyone who is hungry, no questions asked.  The program is operated by a small paid staff, but depends on volunteers to assist in all aspects of its operations.  Manna Meal is not government funded and is entirely dependent on generosity of individuals, religious communities, corporations and businesses in Charleston.  

Please contact Manna Meal if you have any questions about our services or our upcoming concert.

“So the hungry can eat”  (304) 345-7121  Email: jean_mannameal@verizon.net

WHAT A SUCCESSFUL YEAR of growing—especially growing our circle of Manna Meal gardening friends! Looking back at 2009, we can be very proud of what was accomplished in so many realms. First we couldn’t have done any of it without Tom! Thanks Tom! Thanks for your infinite kindness and patience and that really nifty outhouse. Thanks to Bill Shanklin who started the majority of all our little plants in his greenhouse and helped us construct the deer fence and row cover framework. Many friends and volunteers donated seed and plants but most importantly–their time and sweat. We discovered that women drive tractors, help build fences and row cover framework.  We saw the men build tomato cages, drive fence post, construct a deer fence and haul compost. Every one of us became a student of planting, weeding, harvesting and composting. . . and we acknowledge our Master Gardener friends who stayed right with us till the first storm crushed our row cover framework and ended our attempts at winter gardening.

                We remember freezing hundreds of pounds of veggies for the soup kitchen and offering bean and tomato canning demonstrations for the community. We remember walking between the doubled nylon net that was covered in pole beans and bugs. We planted bush beans three times for a bumper crop. We enjoyed growing the beautiful flowers and sending them to many worthy events throughout the summer. We harvested red radishes and several types of lettuce in early December—and guess what—there were no bugs in December!                                  

We remember Kelly, James, Nancy, Sue, Ann, Stan, Bill, Gary, Carol, Vanda, Carter, Martha, Beth, Molly, Scott, Betty, Abigail, Peyton, Judy, Liz, Camellia, Susan, Connie, Corleen, Sam, Steve, Sandy, Elizabeth, Ben, Mary Jo, Helen, Tim, Aurora, Brandt, Eilene, Pam, Laureen, Ed, Eric, Clark, Courtney, Debbie, Susie, Bill, Harriet, Janet, Mary, Heather, Tammy, Mike, Raj, Neva, Charlotte, Nelle, Lila, Adam, Barbara, Wade, Clarke, Amanda, Sean, Annie, Carl, Megan, Hannah, Travis, Misty, Michael, Lillian, Eleanor, Ian, Marranda, Mimi, Tory, Zachary, Alexandria, Amelia, Ali, Bob, Lee, Jean, Tom, Myra and a few that got away without signing in, for your jobs well done.  We love you for giving your labor of gardening love to the Manna Meal Community Garden that supplies the soup kitchen.

Please come back! We hope to refine our row-cover structure for early spring veggies…we are anxious to see how two full rows of garlic [thanks Neva] and one row of onions fared through the winter. We planted some turnip seed in with our winter green manure cover crop and hope to find some little treasures when turning the soil in spring. We want to spend more time developing a composting plan in 2010 too. May God bless!