LOOKING FOR A NEW HOME—Manna, the Conejo Valley food bank at 3020 Crescent Way in Thousand Oaks south of Thousand Oaks Boulevard and west of Hampshire Road, is on a small residential street with limited parking. It needs a larger facility to meet demand. WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers Both city officials and the director of Manna food bank agree that it’s time for Manna to move out of a residential neighborhood ––but nobody knows where.

For almost 40 years Manna, the Conejo Valley food bank, has been serving people who can’t afford to feed themselves or their families.

Manna opened in 1971 when a few residents wanted to help hungry neighbors who’d been hurt financially by layoffs in the aerospace industry.

Manna organizers gathered food in one location and distributed it to those in need.

Houses of worship became involved. Schools started food drives. Local businesses contributed.

The need for food never went away.

“More people are falling off the economic wagon,” said Manna director Mike Mathews.

The food bank is serving about 150 families a week, he said, and needs usually increase in the summer.

In 1981, Manna moved to 3020 Crescent Way in Thousand Oaks. Community donations enabled a purchase of the 800-square-foot house in 1985.

That’s where Manna is today, Mathews said, but it cannot stay there.

Some of Manna’s neighbors are complaining about traffic when donations are dropped off. Vehicles come and go as volunteers do the same and a growing number of clients drive into the small cul-de-sac.

Other neighbors don’t mind and donate some of their time to the charity.

The food bank needs a special use permit to stay in a residential area. That’s something that should have been acquired almost 30 years ago, but it wasn’t.

Finding Manna a new home is now one of the City Council’s top 10 priorities.

“Council has an interest in helping them. Manna wants something larger and not in residential that’s convenient to the people they serve,” said John Prescott, community development director.

“Ideally our new location will be close to clients—near where we are—off of Thousand Oaks Boulevard,” Mathews said.

The director of Manna also said he’d like a bigger facility, possibly 3,000 square feet.

Mathews, who previously worked in city government, predicted it would probably take about two years.