PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Bill Dengler of Collegeville has been volunteering on Thanksgiving Day at Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance, also known as MANNA, for more than 20 years.
He was one of about 200 volunteers who spent part of their Thanksgiving holiday preparing, packaging and delivering meals for the critically Ill.
His job this year was to bring meal bags to the vehicles of volunteer drivers so they can deliver the means to MANNA clients — some of whom are going through chemotherapy or radiation.
“It’s now a Thanksgiving tradition for our family and our neighbors, and a couple of other friends we come down here, the wives are at home making Thanksgiving dinner but the rest of us are down here trying to give back and help people.”
Sue Daugherty, MANNA CEO, says some of their clients are home alone, which is why they whip up and distribute enough food to feed four people — “so they can invite people in so they are not home alone.”
Aaron Kaplan has spent 25 thanksgivings volunteering at MANNA doing all sorts of jobs over the years, including making the deliveries to clients’ homes.
“You get to watch them get their Thanksgiving meal, you get to be the reason that they get to celebrate with their families and you get to see that warmth and joy and happiness, so it’s awesome,” Kaplan said.
MANNA had a pie in the sky fundraiser leading up to Thanksgiving that brought in more than $400,000 this year to help provide 150,000 medically tailored meals each month for people living with a critical illness.