YOUR AD HERE »

Project MANA finalizes move to Truckee, halfway to $150K goal

Kayla Anderson
Special to the Sun
Jason McCay-Moran, volunteer, and Andrea Barrow, volunteer coordinator for Project MANA, stand inside the new Truckee warehouse.
Courtesy Project MANA |

25 years of Project MANA

The nonprofit is celebrating its 25th anniversary at its third annual Stella Foodie Event & Fundraiser. The event is a culinary evening with exceptional menu items, and wine and spirits will be available. Feel free to bring your own favorite wine to share with friends, as there is no corkage fee. The event takes place at Stella Retaurant at the Cedar House Sport hotel, 10918 Brockway Road, Truckee, from 6-9 p.m. on Aug. 23. Tickets are $150 and available at projectmana.org.

TRUCKEE, Calif. — Project MANA has successfully moved its food distribution system from Incline Village to Truckee without a disruption in services.

It’s now been a month since Project MANA moved into its new Truckee warehouse at 10990 Industrial Way, Unit No. B5, and staff reports that its relocation efforts were successful.

“Our warehouse in Truckee has increased our operational capacity by having all of our food and supplies in one space,” says Project MANA Co-Executive Director Heidi Allstead. “Loading food is more efficient because we can pull up directly up to the warehouse to load and unload, and there is more space for volunteers to assist staff with sorting, packing, and loading food.”



Project MANA was based inside the Donald W. Reynold’s Community Non-Profit Center in Incline Village, which houses the Parasol Tahoe Community Foundation, for roughly 14 years

This year, it faced with what MANA staff described as an unexpected move due to the non-renewal of its storage and resident grants this past spring. The relocation costs averaged around $50,000, which the nonprofit is trying to recoup through its recently launched Capital Campaign.



The Project MANA website states that the move put the food distribution nonprofit in a place that makes it appreciate the challenges of the community members served every day, even more so than before.

“That’s exactly what Project MANA does for so many in our community,” according to the website. “This sudden and unexpected relocation creates an immediate need for increased funding. Without the financial subsidy the Parasol grants provided, our operational budget will increase nearly $50,000 per year.”

The organization’s Food Supply Manager Brian Hunt added, “With the help of a team of talented and hardworking volunteers, we were able to repair, clean and paint the warehouse to bring it up to stringent health code requirements. The size and configuration of our new warehouse enables us to store all of our food and supplies in one central location.”

“This makes loading, unloading and conducting inventory quicker and easier than before,” he said. “Now that we have more space, we’ve been able to designate a space in the warehouse specifically for our volunteers to work on projects comfortably and safely.”

As of last week, Project MANA has raised over $78,000 toward its $150,00 goal. It hopes to raise its full amount by the end of August, and it’s received a matching grant of $25,000 from the S.H. Cowell Foundation for Phase Two of the campaign.

In the next few weeks, a walk-in refrigeration unit will be installed at the Truckee location, giving Project MANA the ability to store dairy products, fresh produce, and other perishable items.

For the past 25 years, Project MANA has assisted people in the North Lake Tahoe/Truckee community with hunger relief services. Over 3,000 people are served every year through four mobile food distributions and homebound delivery program.

Last spring, the Community Support Team, which is composed of Tahoe Family Solutions, Tahoe SAFE Alliance and Project MANA, assisted nine families and 29 people with emergency funds.

Among those was a single mother and victim of domestic violence who sought the help of the collaboration, which was able to successfully provide her with food, child support, health care and employment.

To make a financial contribution toward Project MANA’s Capital Campaign, visit projectmana.org.


Support Local Journalism

 

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and beyond make the Sierra Sun's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.