Thanksgiving: A Family Affair

Liz Braemer has been volunteering at MANNA on Thanksgiving Day since she was nine years old. Liz (pictured, center), who is now in her mid-twenties and resides in New York City, volunteers along with her mother Amy Finkel (pictured, right) and sister Kate (pictured, left) every Thanksgiving.

"Volunteering and giving back has always been an important value to my family," says Liz. "We've been coming to MANNA on Thanksgiving Day for years and years and it's a great day and there's a great sense of comraderie with the other volunteers."

In addition, Liz says that it has been a pleasure coming to MANNA year after year and watching the organization grow through renovation and expansion, enabling MANNA to serve more members of the community. "You leave MANNA knowing that you got 2,400 meals out to people who otherwise wouldn't have a Thanksgiving meal on their table."

To Liz, MANNA means "people giving of their time, coming together to feed and nourish the ill, and if MANNA wasn't doing it, then I don't know who else would."

Finally, Liz is quick to note that while her family has made volunteering at MANNA an annual Thanksgiving tradition, they are only a small part of a greater whole. "We're here one day a year but there are those who are here everyday: they are really the ones who make MANNA run and make the difference."