MANNA In the Wilderness of AIDS: Ten Lessons in Abundance

By Kenwyn K. Smith

Book Overview

This is a poignant story of how a tenacious group of seven individuals from a Philadelphia church transformed a modest initiative to serve food to those with HIV/AIDS into a vibrant, interfaith nonprofit organization called Manna (Metropolitan AIDS Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance) -- and in the process, revitalized their community, themselves, and their church.The book describes ten life-giving lessons they experienced during Manna's early years. These universal lessons include: -- The greatest insights came from the most vulnerable in our midst-- The leaps of faith we took filled our spirits with vitality-- To thrive in the midst of massive turbulence required deep roots and radical shifts carefully timed-- Manna both sharpened and healed the tensions between race and social class-- The miraculous was contained within the mundaneThe book depicts how Manna overcame tremendous obstacles -- namely, fear and ignorance of AIDS and a lack of funding to accomplish benevolent goodness.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0829814582
• ISBN13: 9780829814583
• Release Date: October 2015
• Publisher: Pilgrim Press
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Humanity wins!

The story of humanity helping humanity - of a social transformation that, should we allow ourselves to drop our ego, should be more prevalent in our world today.

Plant the seed and watch it grow!

MANNA is more than merely a good read to be put on a shelf when finished. The people in MANNA stay with you, the lessons impact you in the deepest kind of way, and the goodness invigorates and motivates you. It leaves you feeling things that you can't describe which drove me to give it to others so that they can taste its goodness, too. I gave the book to my father (CEO of Family Services in Erie, PA) and he loved it so much he is giving it to his staff (over 100 in total) and his board because he felt it exemplified so much of what he hopes his organization will grow to model in terms of perseverance and sincerity of service.

Inspiring

I am a former graduate student of Dr. Smith's and loved reading his book, as it reminded me of the energy and inspiration he brought to each and every lecture he did for our class. The book inspires one to do good things, and more importantly makes one feel like doing amazing things is possible. The style of the book makes the reader feel like the auther respects him/her, and approaches the many subject matters presented within its pages gently, but also honestly. I highly recommend it.

A new perspective on AIDS and homelessness

Every so often, a book comes along that changes your perspective forever after. Manna is one of those. I will never again think of AIDS or homelessness in the same way. Not only was Manna moving and inspirational, it also was so exquisitely written that I found myself reading it like poetry--in small doses, paragraphs at a time--so that I could absorb its beauty and meaning.The following incident is illustrative of its impact: One afternoon, as I sat reading Manna at a friend's home, I was so taken by one of the excerpts that I read it aloud to him. His eyes filled with tears. A moment later, coming across another such excerpt, I did the same. His reaction was the same. This was repeated several more times, until we both realized that this was the case with every word, every sentence, every paragraph. He decided to get his own copy.Indeed, everyone should have a copy to read, to ponder, to cherish.