UP FROM THE ASHES : Rite Marks St. Joseph’s Desire to Rebuild Center

The ritual distribution of ashes on Ash Wednesday had a special meaning for about 200 people gathered in the parking lot of St. Joseph’s, the Venice food center gutted by an arson fire over the weekend.

The ashes used in the secular ceremony came from the ruins of the small, one-story building at 373 Rose Ave. Sister Loraine, a staff member, said the passing around of bowls, with each person placing ashes on the palm of his neighbor, symbolized the center’s determination to continue to help the needy and to “literally rise from the ashes.”

Men in ragged clothing, their weathered faces showing the ravages of poverty, offered blessings and daffodils to visitors at the ceremony. Later, they helped to distribute sandwiches.

Prosperous-looking supporters of the center also appeared, the eyes of many shining with tears. The interdenominational crowd included Catholics who wore ashes on their foreheads from traditional services, and those who had drawn crosses on their brows at St. Joseph’s.

Though the ceremony was a symbol of hope, many in the crowd spoke only of despair. Tears streamed down the cheeks of Maria Ester Rodriques. Through an interpreter, she said she has two children, her husband is unemployed and her only income is about $70 a week earned through domestic work.

“I don’t know where else I would go without the center,” she said.

A homeless man who calls himself Gypsy agreed. “They (St. Joseph’s) help me out with clothes and food. I have lived on the street for 14 years. When you have to live on the streets, you get beat up all the time. The police are always putting you in jail. You come here and they treat you nice. I come here every day to eat. If this place wasn’t here, I don’t know what I would eat.”

St. Joseph Center, which also runs a thrift shop and a women’s center a few blocks away, opened the food pantry in 1976. The pantry feeds 9,000 people each month, a spokesman said. Usually open on weekdays, the facility was closed Monday as volunteers shoveled debris out of the building and staff members searched for records--all of which were found, singed but readable.

Among the diggers was Santa Monica businessman Adrian Varney, whom social worker Christina Sutherland praised for being a leader of the recovery effort.

Since the Saturday morning fire, staff members have worked at the women’s center calling churches and other groups with requests for help in preparing sandwiches to feed about 135 homeless people who received lunch at the center each day.

By Tuesday, word of the disaster had spread and donations arrived from groups including Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades, St. Anastasia’s in Westchester, First Christian Church of Santa Monica and Temple Shir Shalom, which meets at St. Bede’s Church in Mar Vista. Sister Mildred from St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica brought 100 sandwiches.

Because of the damage, food cannot be prepared or stored at St. Joseph’s, officials said. Besides burnt and smoke-damaged dry goods, the center lost cold-storage items in the fire when the melted doors of two refrigerators and a freezer popped open, revealing ruined turkeys and luncheon meat.

Social service worker Sutherland said damage to the building and its contents was estimated at $10,000. No injuries were reported.

The structure’s chances for repair are unknown, she said, but the city Department of Building and Safety will make a decision after an inspection.

The fire, which started near the back door, melted pots and pans, telephones and appliances, officials said. The building has been reduced to blistered walls. Pipes once hidden behind a partition now stand bare. Sunlight shows through what remains of the charred ceiling beams. Firefighters had to chop a hole in the roof to release smoke, Sutherland said.

Fire officials said the blaze was started by an incendiary substance, but no motive is known.

“We lost quite a bit financially, in terms of resources and office supplies,” Sister Loraine said. “It is very sad, but our experience is that people are very generous. The blessing of the hands with ashes is not just empty symbolism. We will rise out of the ashes and the people who come to us will not be abandoned. It won’t be just the staff. It will be the volunteers and new people who hear about this.”

During rebuilding, the center needs a place to store and package food for distribution, staff members said. A temporary lunch program for the homeless will be set up in the lot behind the pantry. The homeless advocacy program, which finds shelter and directs the poor to relief agencies, also will continue there.

“If people want to help, we need beans, rice, tomato sauce, canned soups, peanut butter, canned tuna, canned vegetables, powdered milk, pork and beans, and toiletries,” Sister Loraine said. Also needed are men’s and children’s laundered clothing and cash donations.

The center’s phone numbers are 392-5101 and 396-4918.