From its foundation in 1912, Girl Scouts has encouraged service projects and volunteerism among its members. In fact, Girl Scouts’ highest honors, the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards, are awarded to girls for completing meaningful service projects. In 2012, troop 40449 began Manna Kitchen to earn their Silver Award and have kept serving meals to some very special neighbors ever since.

In January 2012, the girls of troop 40449 in Benton, TN, were approached by a member of their sponsoring church, Benton United Methodist. She wanted to do something for the residents of Benton Elderly Housing, located just down the street from the church. The troop volunteered to help, and Manna Kitchen was born.

When troop 40449 first started Manna Kitchen, they used it as their Silver Award project. Once a month, the girls of troop 40449 and various church ladies worked together to prepare and deliver a hot meal to the elderly residents of the housing unit. The ladies cooked the meal and the girls loaded the take-away boxes into coolers and then loaded the two coolers onto a wagon. The girls pulled the wagon the roughly 400 yards to the housing unit and handed out meals to the residents. As part of earning their Silver Award, the girls also made Valentine cards, stuffed Easter eggs, and created Christmas ornaments to brighten the day of the residents.

Troop Administrator Lee Merrell pointed out that delivering a homemade meal once a month doesn’t seem like it would make a difference to the lives of the residents, but the meal is only a small part of it. Manna Kitchen is as much an outreach project as it is a meal delivery project. Most of the residents of the housing units live alone and don’t get any visits from family, and they love it when the girls come to visit them.

The original troop 40449 girls (L to R) Kaci, Katherine, Mackenzie (back), and Cheyanne (front) with one of the residents, Bill, and Kay Green, one of the church ladies. 

Mackenzie was a member of troop 40449 when Manna Kitchen first began. She says that she always really looked forward to Manna Kitchen day. From watching and helping the church ladies cook, she learned how to cook, too. She remembers the residents being excited to see her and her troopmates coming. She knew that some of the residents didn’t get any visitors besides her troop and that made their monthly visit very special indeed. Mackenzie, now 19, fondly remembers one man who called the girls “honey” and an older lady who gave the biggest hugs.

Mackenzie says that Girl Scouting has taught her, “that the smallest things that you don’t even think about make someone ecstatic.” She also says, “I think Manna Kitchen is one of the greatest things that I’ve ever heard of. You bring home cooked, hot food to people who don’t always get it. It’s being selfless and loving and caring to people you don’t even know.” She also says that she enjoyed the personal touch that Manna Kitchen provided: “It’s not like a soup kitchen. It’s different. You get more in touch with people by going door to door and asking their name and how their day was.”

Troop 40449 always donates Girl Scout cookies to the residents. Here’s (L to R) Mackenzie, Cheyanne, Katherine, and Kaci dividing up and packing some into baggies.

After the original group of girls earned their Silver Award and eventually aged out of the troop, Manna Kitchen continued to be a big part of troop 40449. Some of the original girls kept coming back when they could to help with the service project. They thoroughly enjoyed delivering meals to the residents and spending time with them. The girls felt like they were doing something meaningful.

The following generations of troop members wanted to maintain the service project and it’s still going strong today. Ladies of the church still do most of the cooking, the girls do the delivering, and they still make ornaments for the residents at Christmastime.

Something that has changed, though, is the troop’s trusty wagon used to haul the food coolers. The coolers set on the rim of the wagon and were prone to sliding around. The current troop members had this problem in the back of their mind as they worked on their Think Like an Engineer journey. The troop leaders suggested that the girls tackle the wagon problem with what they learned through the journey. For a solution, the girls came up with an easily-removed railing made out of PVC that set on top of the wagon and held the coolers in place without girl-assistance. The girls did all the designing, measuring, cutting, and testing of the railing system, with troop leaders handling the final gluing. The girls tested their railing and it worked great! 

Current troop member Madison shows off the new railing system.

With dedicated troop volunteers and church ladies, big-hearted girls, and a more-usable wagon, it looks like Manna Kitchen will continue to brighten the month of the residents of Benton Elderly Housing for some time to come. 

The current members of troop 40449 at an investiture ceremony, welcoming two new Juniors (Kathleen and Ozzlyn) into their sister troop, 40149. (Front L to R) Willow, Kathleen, Ozzlyn, Destany, and Darvee (Back L to R) Breonna, troop administrator Lee Merrell, Aaliah, Zoey, and Madison