Who do you think of when you think of a hero?
A fireman? A police officer? Superman? Or, a kind neighbor down the street?
Sometimes it’s hard to decide what or who makes a hero. But, the fourth grade class at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School learned that heroes are in their community every day, contributing to the wellness of others. Learning about community efforts and those who help people in the community that may be struggling is part of the Values Class at St. Patrick’s Day School. After studying
Modern Day Hero’s, each student was asked to select a
Modern Day Hero from the Conejo Valley community; people they thought displayed the attributes of a hero. After the selection process was completed, our very own executive director, Jennifer Schwabauer, was named as one of St. Patrick’s
Modern Day Hero’s.
“It’s a great honor to be selected”, Schwabauer said, “because it means our work and message is reaching deep into the community; to the young people who will carry on the values of helping others in need”. She went on to say, “A new generation of young people are learning about people in need and how their actions can contribute to helping a person or a family who is struggling”.
The class should be proud of themselves and the work they do to support Manna. The school as a whole should also take pride in the food drives they do and the amount of food they donate to stock the pantry shelves. It is only through the support of the people in our community, no matter how young they are, that Manna is able to feed some 1,400 people each month and more than 18,000 people each year.
“There are over 15,000 food insecure households in the Conejo Valley”, Schwabauer stated, and “Manna reaches about 10% of those households”. There is so much more we can do. Our job, Manna’s job, is to inform the community about the plight of our seniors living on fixed incomes, the struggles single parents face to feed their kids, and the stress a family goes through when they have to decide whether to buy food or pay the mortgage.
Manna was founded with the idea that no person should ever go hungry in the Conejo Valley, and for 44 years we have been feeding seniors, families and children who struggle with hunger. With the community’s help we will continue to feed people, and by involving more people in our mission we can reach even more people in need.
Manna has been the Conejo Valley’s “hometown” Food Pantry for 44 years. Every supporter can rest assure that what is given by the Conejo Valley, stays in the Conejo Valley to help local families and seniors who struggle with hunger. For more information about Manna and how you can help, please check out our website at
www.mannaconejo.org or call us at (805) 497-4959.
