Manna House volunteer.

Volunteers show up each week to feed the hungry at Manna House. (Beth Thames)

(Beth Thames)

Alabama's a poor state. Huntsville's a prosperous city.

But that's obviously not true for everybody. Volunteers who work at Manna House, a food distribution center on South Memorial Parkway, know this. They see proof of it three times a week.

Visitors just show up. Some are on foot and others ride bikes or drive older model cars. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, from 4-7 p.m., people come to Manna House to get food or to serve food. Sometimes they do both.

They may be hungry or have kids who are. They know what it's like to face an empty pantry and two children who need dinner but might not get it. They may be on their feet again and want to give back to the place that gave to them. So they show up.

The people who enter the big metal building are white, black, Hispanic and Asian.

They need help because there were layoffs at the job or their husband left or the chemo treatments meant they had to take off from work for awhile. They may be struggling with mental illness or another invisible disability. They may be needy for the first time in their lives and they don't know how to handle it.

According to Manna House director Fran Fluhler, most Manna visitors are working, at least part-time. Some are elderly, surprised that they grew so old and out-lived their money. Some are young children, wearing hand-me-downs and picking out a book from a shelf, maybe the first one they could keep as their own.

Fluhler, who started Manna House 12 years ago, grew up in a family that valued community work. She passed this idea on to her three children. The underlying philosophy behind the place is "cover your neighbor." She works in the defense industry by day, and manages Manna after hours with the help of churches, businesses, and a flock of volunteers, including high school students who just show up to help.

"There's no paper work involved, no forms to fill out. You just come in and someone will give you a job. You can be a member of any church or no church at all. You can unpack donations, serve hot food on the line, hand out toiletry items, or just talk to the people who come in. You just show up and we'll get you started," she says.

The main room is filled with donated loaves of bread, fruit, canned goods, baby food. The office is stacked high with birthday bags, and each has a box of cake mix, birthday candles, party favors. It's always somebody's birthday.

Hundreds of people come each night, and somehow it all works. There's an air of good will and organization, as people get what they need from the bins, or serve a hot meal to the visitors moving through the food line. There's no waste; everything that's donated is used.

People are welcome to come when they need to come. Volunteers are professional people, working people, church folks, or college students who like to get out of the classroom and into the real world.

At this rough time in our national dialogue, people can't decide how to treat the poor. Do we blame them? Pity them? Ignore them unless they live in our ZIP code? Until we figure it out, we can just show up and feed them.

For more information about Manna House, contact fran@mymannahouse.com or call 256-653-7883.