Project MANA - A Hunger Relief Agency

North Lake Tahoe Bonanza: For more than 15 years, Project MANA has put food on the tables of families in need through its weekly food distributions. A new program which may become a model in the region for social services, gets to the heart of the hunger problem.

Project MANA, Tahoe Women's Services, Sierra Recovery Center and Childen's Cabinet formed a collaboration called the Service Integration Team. Family advocates help people identify needs and make them aware of services that could help.

"We've made it a rule that if a family requests an emergency bag of food six times, or comes to our food distribution 12 times in one year, we ask that they meet with the family advocates," said George LeBard, Executive Director of Project MANA. "It's getting those families before they get in crisis, because when they reach that point, they need all kinds of help."

Family advocates have already assisted 100 families on the North Shore.

"One of the unexpected benefits is that it's identified the people who really have needs and those that want to be resourceful," LeBard said.

To encourage families to participate, Project MANA has set up a store with school supplies, toiletries, glassware, toys and other similar items at Incline's DW Reynolds Community Center.

For every needs assessment, an hour spent volunteering, or class attended, clients earn points to redeem in the store.

"I see the clients when they come in to volunteer. They're really dependable and they do a really good job," LeBard said. "I think they're great. They're responsible, on time and they always ask if there's anything else they can do before they go."

The program is so popular with Project MANA's clients that the Service Integration Team began working at the Kings Beach distribution on Wednesdays from 3 to 4 p.m. two weeks ago. The distribution takes place at the North Tahoe Family Resource Center, 8321 Steelhead.

"Three times more people from Kings Beach participated in Mommy and Me and English classes and all of them brought their worksheets to earn points," said Teresa Ley, a family advocate in the Service Integration Team. "I'm excited. I was definitely happy to see what a good response they got."

The good response at both the Incline and Kings Beach distributions can be attributed to the family advocates, LeBard said.

"The really neat thing is the relationships that are being formed between the advocates and the clients," LeBard said. "They seem very excited and happy about being able to have a more open relationship."

George's wife, Irma LeBard, is a family advocate who sees many walk-in clients while running the front office at the Parasol Community Foundation.

"It's something that I've been doing, but now I have a name for it," Irma said. "I find out that the person needs a lot of things and I just call all the advocates. Now we're starting to communicate with each other and work together more."

The program is evolving to offer more comprehensive services.

"It's really interesting watching the families plan so carefully with their points so they can get the items they need at the store - and they always make sure to get something extra for their kids," George said. "In a way, we're teaching planning skills and eventually we'll start a course that emphasizes the importance of financial planning."

Other courses on the horizon might include cooking, weight management and healthy eating.

Service Integration Team is effective in helping local families

The following is the story of an Incline resident who went to the Service Integration Team at a time when her family was in crisis.

"Maria," who asked to be identified by her middle name, was referred to the Service Integration Team at the Children's Cabinet to receive help from a state medical program.

What she didn't expect was a group of people that were interested in finding out what the root of her medical problems were. They also took the time to see what other resource she could use, she said.

"When I came, I was very stressed," Maria said. "I didn't know what to do or where to go and the advocates helped me find what I needed."

Project MANA was able to provide Maria with an emergency bag of food.

Tahoe Women's Services helped with her pay her power bill.

Children's Cabinet and Sierra Recovery Center helped Maria take care of legal problems that her son was having.

Parasol helped Maria and her family get medical insurance and doctor visits.

"The help (the advocates provided) made me less stressed, I feel better about things and my kids are more calm - we're not as worried about all the problems our family was having," Maria said.

Maria plans to attend parenting classes sponsored by Children's Cabinet.

"I want to learn more about my children's development," Maria said. "I took parenting classes for children under five before, now I want to take classes for when my kids are older."

Lucy Redoglia
bonanza staff writer