A Senior Moment by Diane Hendricks (Senior Warden) : St. John’s and Manna Meal

As a therapist and mother of three young children in 1991 I was immediately drawn to St. John’s dedication to social justice and their partnership with Manna Meal. So I, like many of you, have mixed feelings as they move from St. John’s to Garnet Center for dining and mobile units for storing and preparing food. Many of you are asking for more information about this transition - how and why this is happening.

Here is a summary of our recent history with Manna Meal:

Manna Meal is an independent nonprofit organization and a tenant of St John’s, St. John’s being ultimately owned and accountable to the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia. While over the years we have shared some expenses with them eg. pest control, cleaning and dumpster fees, Manna Meal has paid a monthly rent to the church for the space they use, has their own board of directors, budget and operates independently from St. John’s. 

Manna Meal’s Memorandum of Understanding (similar to a contract or lease) had been in place for 15 years following a major renovation of the church kitchen in 2008-09 which included a large donation from the Wehrle family. The MOU was due to be revisited in February, 2023. Following some disturbing events that involved Manna Meal guests on church property the Manna Meal board president made the painful decision to close down the in-house dining at St. John’s in November, 2023 while continuing to prepare food there. Garnet Center was chosen as the new dining room. As the old agreement was expiring it was decided that the new MOU would call for continuing our partnership with them through 2024 with the hopes that Manna Meal would begin their search for a larger space with opportunities for expansion. The executive committee of the vestry met several times with the Manna Meal board president and vice-president to create this latest MOU, passed by the vestry and currently in effect. As Manna Meal continues to search for a new location which will, hopefully, include opportunities for preparing and serving food, they will be adding two new trucks to their mobile unit already in operation. My understanding is that the trucks will house the preparation of food and provide storage for their staples.

Even though St. John’s is known for being the ‘birth place’ for so many social services that have moved on and become independently housed, our partnership with Manna Meal has been the lengthiest and much of our identity as an inclusive, compassionate church. Although absent for most of this transition, our new rector Eric has embraced the role of compassionate listener and healer for many of us experiencing grief as a result of it. We are thankful for this offering and will continue to pray with him as we journey through the remainder of this year. We will continue to support Manna Meal during this transition and as they continue to search for a new, permanent home. Your vestry is discerning ways to do this and we will keep you informed as we have those discussions, praying daily for the Manna Meal guests, staff and volunteers.