The donations keep coming in for Manna House, and the organization is expanding to try to keep up.

Manna House is adding a 60-foot by 100-foot storage and warehouse addition, and work on erecting the metal building could be done in two weeks, if weather permits.

“We’re looking forward to it,” said Lisa Bush, Manna House director. “With the new warehouse, we hope we’ll be able to hold donations better.”

It may be another month before Manna House can use its new storage building. In the meantime, Manna House volunteers and staff have to keep the donations out of the elements as much as possible.

And the amount of donations that continue to pour in remains strong, much to the surprise and delight of Manna House.

“Our volunteers said it would slow down after Christmas. The donations keep coming in,” Bush said. “This is wonderful. It’s just amazing.”

As the contributions from the community have continued, so has the need for the Manna House’s food pantry. Manna House is a partner with FORCE and has had about 20,000 food items donated through FORCE.

“We have seen an increase in the last few months. We’ve seen so many new people come in who never expected to see themselves at a food pantry before,” Bush said. “We used to average 30-60 families a month. Now it’s that many in a day, and that’s from being open three hours a day.”

Proceeds from items sold in Manna House’s store go toward purchasing food. Manna House buys between $3,000 and $5,000 each week in food, Bush said.

The Manna House is staffed by volunteers from a coalition of 30 churches.

“We have a good group of very dedicated volunteers,” Bush said.