Angel investor Karakin Foundation has pulled through for Manna Soup Kitchen again.
The foundation gave Manna a $500,000 grant to pay for a new 3,170-square-foot building that will house administrative offices, a teaching kitchen and conference rooms.
Karakin gave a $150,000 grant to Manna last year to pay for a remodel of its existing building at 1100 Avenida del Sol.
Manna’s former executive director, Sarah Comerford, awarded the nonprofit the $500,000 grant through her new role as grant administrator at the foundation.
“They had an interest (in Manna) previous to Sarah Comerford leaving her position and working for them,” said new Executive Director Sara Wakefield. “This is part of Sarah’s vision with our board: that we would be able to serve our population and increase employability and move them a little bit further to sustainability.”
Last year, the Karakin Foundation gave money to the Boys & Girls Club, Women’s Resource Center and Wounded Warriors, among others, Comerford said in an email to The Durango Herald.
Manna will put out a construction bid for its new digs in mid-May and hopes to have construction done this winter with its new programs launching in spring 2014, Wakefield said.
The nonprofit plans to expand its reach from serving food to those in need to offering culinary training to make clients more marketable.
“The biggest employment opportunity is in food,” said Lynne Sholler, president of the Manna board of directors.
Manna is partnering with Seattle-based Catalyst Kitchen to develop a curriculum. The company works with organizations across the country to train people in food service.
The upper level of the new two-story building will have a kitchen for those enrolled in the class, which will have six students and be held four times a year. Facilities will include a dining hall to train servers.
The lower level of the building will house four administrative offices and meeting rooms.
Manna had to reduce the square-footage of its dining hall in the existing building to make room for two offices, and the kitchen manager’s office currently is a computer on a cart pushed into a pantry closet, Wakefield said.
Once the offices are moved into the new building, the dining hall can be expanded and hold more people.
The meeting rooms can be rented out to public entities and groups such as Alcoholic Anonymous, which currently is inaccessible to many of Manna’s clients, Sholler told the Durango City Council at its April 16 meeting.
AA meets each Tuesday at First United Methodist Church, but many clients either don’t know about the meeting or can’t get transportation there, she said.
AA meetings are held throughout the week at a variety of places, including St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and Durango Joe’s Coffee Co., according to the organization’s website.
Manna hopes to offer meetings after its lunch when clients already are in the vicinity.
The new building also will come with a new 16-space parking lot, which should reduce the number of people parking on the street and in neighboring subdivisions.
Manna has been discussing constructing a new building for two to three years, Sholler said.
The structure will be directly south of Manna’s current building.
The $500,000 grant and $75,000 Manna has put away for the building will pay for construction, but the nonprofit will be conducting a capital campaign to raise money for furniture and the fixtures inside the building.
It reported bringing in $691,530 on its 2011 tax form.
jdahl@durangoherald.com
Manna Building Rendering 1 (PDF)
Manna Soup Kitchen site map (PDF)
Manna Building Rendering 2 (PDF)
