Mt. Airy Mainstay Extends His Helping Reach to MANNA

by Mills Harasta, Weavers Way Marketing Coordinator, and Kentu X

If you’re a regular shopper at Weavers Way Mt. Airy, you probably know Kentu X. He started working at the Co-op 13 years ago and has left his mark on our community ever since. During his shifts, he diligently stocks shelves and hauls tubs of produce while greeting customers by name and asking how their day is going.

Kentu came to us by way of Community Integrated Services, a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities to achieve their employment goals. Weavers Way and CIS have been partners for several years, and together have employed several CIS participants at our stores.

Recently, in addition to Kentu’s work at the Co-op and his successes in Special Olympics tournaments, he’s taken up volunteering at the Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance. MANNA is a nonprofit that prepares and delivers meals to those with critical illnesses. Since opening their doors in 1990, they’ve expanded their services and now provide medically tailored meals to anyone at nutritional risk. They also provide professional nutrition counseling. They serve the Greater Philadelphia area, South Jersey and beyond. The Co-op has been a dropoff point for their Thanksgiving pies during their annual Pie in the Sky Fundraiser for several years.

Although CIS and MANNA are not affiliated, when Kentu went to his primary job coach, Katrina Shuptard, looking for more work to explore, her fellow CIS support worker, Beth Flauger, suggested MANNA. It turned out to be a perfect fit. Volunteering at MANNA has allowed Kentu to improve his cooking and food prep skills, and he’s benefited in other ways, according to Shuptard.

“He’s getting an additional sense of his worth,” she said. “And with Kentu, it’s never about himself; it’s always about others. At the Special Olympics, he’s part of a team. At Weavers Way, he’s part of a team. At MANNA, he’s part of a team.

“…He’s a standout in so many ways,” she continued. “You have someone who’s working, and Kentu works and then says, ‘I want to give more, I want to be more.’ That’s pretty extraordinary.”

If you’re interested in volunteering at MANNA, visit MANNApa.org/volunteer. To learn more about CIS, visit cisworks.org