By ANN RICHARDS One out of every five people in Genesee County is receiving some type of state assistance, according to the Michigan Department of Human Services. As job losses and unemployment rates continue to climb, families in the Mott Foundation’s home town of Flint and its surrounding communities are facing ever-more-difficult choices as they attempt to navigate one of the toughest economies in the nation.
No one knows the harsh realities of the area’s poor than John Manse, who for the past 14 years has directed the
North End Soup Kitchen, a program of
Catholic Charities of Shiawassee and Genesee Counties. But even as need rises, generosity is expanding to meet it.
“This is a place where people give of themselves,” says Manse of the soup kitchen, which in 2008, served more than 57,000 hot meals and distributed more than 125,700 sack lunches. The soup kitchen also operates two summer youth camps, and stocks an enormous personal needs “closet” assisting more than 11,300 individuals throughout the year.
“People want to help -- they just don’t always know where to go or how to do it. When we first started using volunteers to prepare meals, we had about 30 different church groups. Now we have hundreds of groups from local businesses, schools, colleges, service clubs and churches. We work hard to give them as meaningful a volunteer experience possible.”
More than 6,000 individuals volunteer at the soup kitchen each year, which recently benefited from a make-over courtesy of a multi-year
Mott grant of $55,025. A growing percentage of these are children and high school and college students -– a group Manse says nonprofits often struggle to utilize.
“We don’t turn down anyone’s help. Elementary school kids are our top volunteer base. They’re great -– kids are willing to try anything. It’s our job to keep them busy so the experience is fun.
“At first, staff didn’t know what to do with them. The kids and teachers wanted more than a passive field trip experience -– they wanted to help. So we got used to the idea that we’d be training volunteers every day. It’s particularly important that kids have a successful experience -– they’ll be the donors and volunteers that sustain us in the future.”
The soup kitchen also works with the Michigan Department of Corrections and the local court system to place individuals who need to fulfill community service requirements as a result of traffic violations and other non-violent offenses.
“Eighty percent of those placements are incredibly hard workers -– they come to love this place so much about half of them return to volunteer.
“I think people enjoy themselves because you never know what you’ll find here on any given day. We have Brownie troops, Home Depot workers, seniors, hospital volunteers running blood pressure clinics –- it’s a very dynamic atmosphere.”
This summer, high school students from the
Mott-funded Summer Youth Program were invaluable to operations, said Manse, who has been able to retain a couple of the youth workers through the end of the year to do landscaping and help sort and haul the growing amount of donations stored in the empty sanctuary of Flint’s Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Sacred Heart’s Father Blasko Hall has been home to the North End Soup Kitchen since 1980, when a Catholic Committee of Concern chose the parish to begin to address exploding poverty problems -– particularly in Flint’s north end. In 2008, the diocese closed the church, and Manse received permission to use it as home for an expanded personal needs closet.
“I needed space,” said Manse, who was being inundated with bags of clothing, bedding and household goods. “We’ve been fundraising to cover the extra cost of running lights and heat to the church, and as long as I can get grants and donations, we’ll continue to keep it open.”
Now known as the
North End Soup Kitchen’s Outreach Center, the church houses a personal needs and linen closet, a household and clothing bank, and most recently, an emergency clothes and food services program, which provides new items for victims of fires, domestic abuse or other catastrophes.
“Everything is given away, nothing is sold,” says Manse of the thousands of items at the Outreach Center.
Nor are any questions asked.
“I don’t inquire as to why people need something –- I don’t care,” says Manse.
That’s not to say that the soup kitchen doesn’t document what they do, however.
“Everything is entered into our computer data base -– the names of our clients, the number of visits, the items taken,” he said. “We keep statistics on everything. And we track how well we’re meeting needs through quarterly surveys.”
According to surveys, the needs have gotten worse.
“It’s not only that we’re seeing more people, it’s that they need more services. Our client numbers are way up at the outreach center, and we’re way down in the amount of soap, diapers, tooth paste and other items needed. In the old days, we were able to purchase a lot of personal needs items from the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, but they’re feeling the pinch too.”
About 75 percent of the soup kitchen’s clients are not on any type of public assistance, says Manse. The remaining 25 percent generally are one-parent families who cannot stretch their budgets to the end of the month.
Numbers of those seeking help spike in the summer, when the mild weather makes it easier for people to walk farther.
Thus far, volunteers and donors have risen to the challenge, says Manse, who notes that 95 percent of this year’s daily volunteer slots are filled, as are 75 percent of next year’s.
For 15 years, Greg Ball, a 75-year-old General Motors retiree, has been coordinating a group of volunteers from the Bristol Road Church of Christ, who cook lunch every month that has a “fifth Monday.”
“It’s so gratifying, it isn’t work at all,” says Ball, of his long-time commitment to the soup kitchen. As a child, Ball attended church at Sacred Heart, and he considers the clients of the soup kitchen as “neighbors in need.”
“Feed my children, the Lord said –- our part is to help whoever needs it,” he said of the church team’s motivation to serve.
“When I first took this job, I saw myself as a cook,” said Manse. “But after a while, my attitude changed because of these volunteers and the businesses and churches that donate goods week after week. I’m paid for what I do -– they do it from the heart.
“It’s a real mission to work here, and for me, a real privilege.”