To our Durango community,

Since March 18th, Manna has been taking preventative measures to help our community stay healthy during the COVID-19 crisis. Our dining room is currently closed and will remain so until further notice. Below lists Manna’s current services that we are offering to the community.
•Manna continues to serve meals seven days a week, distributing sack lunches and hot to-go meals every day from 9 – 11 a.m. at the back entrance of our Soup Kitchen in a grab-and-go style. Anyone in need is welcomed to come pick up meals for themselves, their families, neighbors, and/or other community members.

•Manna has partnered with Southwest Rides and Durango Vineyard Church to drop off 30 – 40 sack lunches/hot meals six days a week to the Purple Cliffs encampment, once a day. The Purple Cliffs is La Plata County’s legal camp site for those experiencing homelessness.

•Manna will continue to partner with Durango 9-R School District and Southern Ute Boys and Girls Club during school closures from COVID-19 to provide backpacks full of food every week. Manna will provide 400 backpacks full of food (11 food items to make seven meals for an individual student) every Wednesday starting on March 25th for Durango 9-R School District and 80 backpacks full of food every Friday starting March 27th for Southern Ute Boys and Girls Club. Both organizations will be distributing the backpacks to children/families in need.

•Manna is partnering with local organizations (The Good Food Collective, La Plata Family Centers Coalition, San Juan Basin Public Health, Durango Community Shelter, Southwest Safehouse, Companeros, etc.) to distribute food, food boxes, and meals to those in need.

Our staff will be taking all measures to limit person-person contact. Meals will be packaged individually and we will continue to make sure our cooking facilities remain clean and sanitary. Additionally, we have a hand washing station outside of our meal pickup area. Lastly, our campus is closed to volunteers to honor social distancing practices. To reach us, please be in touch by phone or email at 970-385-5095 ext. 3, or at info@mannasoupkitchen.com.

For those who are able to contribute right now, we are more than happy to receive monetary and food donations. Online monetary donations can be made at www.mannasoupkitchen.org/donate. Additional funding is needed to purchase food, packaging, supplies for food (to-go containers, etc.) and pay staff to continue our services and keep up with the increased demand for those experiencing food insecurity. These funds will provide gap funding for Manna throughout the next few months during this emergency situation. Finally, with grocery stores running low we are expecting to receive fewer food donations in the near future. If you have extra to give or would like to ship nonperishables from Amazon or other food delivery services, you can send these items to 1100 Avenida Del Sol, Durango, CO 81301.

Kindly,

Manna Staff