They Serve the Homeless Hot Meals--and Hope
After a fire destroyed their mobile home three months ago, Gary Fickenworth and Patty Myers began living in an old boat that sits in a desolate expanse of vacant lots and auto-wrecking yards in the dusty side roads of Wilmington.
The couple have no electricity, no running water and no sewage system. As winter approaches, bringing brisk winds from the nearby harbor, they get heat only from discarded wood that they burn in a steel pail.
In their world of elemental struggles, the fight against hunger often has been the most difficult.
“A lot of times, we have hit garbage cans just to survive,” said Fickenworth, 26, who is partially disabled. “Sometimes we have thought that we might not make it through the winter.” He collects scrap metal to earn a few dollars and hopes to be called soon for work as a security guard. Myers, who is also disabled, is unemployed.
A Little Easier
But their plight has recently become a little easier. Now, three days a week, they can count on a hot meal. And today,they are looking forward to a real Thanksgiving feast.
Help has been coming to the couple--and more than 150 other needy people--through the 4-month-old One at a Time Ministries, a hunger relief program that is run by two members of Lomita’s South Bay Vineyard Christian Fellowship, a 400-member, nondenominational church.
On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of each week, Terri Odum of Redondo Beach and Brenda Fiscus of Torrance travel the bumpy dirt roads of south Wilmington in Odum’s van, offering prepared meals and such staples as bread and milk to the needy from the back of the rust-colored vehicle. They serve six informal camps for the homeless, as well as several isolated, makeshift homes, like the boat occupied by Fickenworth and Myers.
The women’s visits have become an important part of survival for many of Wilmington’s most impoverished people, needy residents say.
‘Wouldn’t Make It’
“If it wasn’t for these people helping us and pulling us through, we wouldn’t make it,” said Myers, 28. “Sometimes when I think about it, I just sit here and cry.”
Said Nathan Sherry, 32, an unemployed truck driver who has lived for two months in a Wilmington camp for the homeless: “I think I’d be starving to death if they didn’t come around.”
For Thanksgiving, the women have extended their volunteer program, which is run solely on private donations. With the assistance of Wilmington’s Calvary Presbyterian Church, Odum and Fiscus are planning a sit-down dinner that will include many typical Thanksgiving trimmings--turkey, dressing, corn and string beans, candied yams, mashed potatoes, salads, hot rolls and pumpkin pie. The dinner, to be held at Calvary Presbyterian, 1160 Marine Ave., from 12 to 3 p.m., is expected to draw 150 to 200 needy Wilmington people.
Odum and Fiscus, who approach the homeless in a cheery, interested manner, also distribute clothes to the needy and sometimes visit hospitals and jails.
Real People
“When you see transients walk down the street, they don’t seem like real people, but when you talk to them and you hear their stories, it’s a lot different,” said Fiscus, 39, a mother of three grown children who works part time at a Bible store.
“A lot of them become precious,” Fiscus continued. “Once you go down there, you never stop thinking about them. You’re always thinking of ways you can help and things you can do.”
Indeed, the women have devised numerous ways to provide assistance. They have approached several businesses, such as bakeries and supermarkets, for leftover food. They have often exchanged surplus food with local churches and social service organizations that had different products. They have given out gift certificates from fast-food restaurants to help those who need food on the days that it is not delivered.
Mostly, though, Odum and Fiscus simply take donations from whoever offers them. In one case, a dentist donated toothbrushes and toothpaste; on another occasion, a thrift store that was going out of business donated its remaining clothing stock. Fellow church members, relatives and friends are the most frequent donors, providing everything from money to clothing to prepared meals.
Spaghetti to Hot Dogs
Odum and Fiscus cook most of the meals they distribute, ranging from spaghetti to hotdogs to taco salad. Last Saturday’s beef stew that fed 130 cost $44 to prepare, they said.
“Sometimes we wonder where the next day’s meal is going to come from, but someone always shows up with a donation,” said Odum, 43, a mother of three and wife of an associate pastor of the Lomita church. “We work with whatever is donated. . . . We haven’t really solicited donations very much, but we do need them.”
Added Fiscus, “Wilmington is the most obviously needy place in the South Bay that I’ve seen, but I haven’t seen every area. I just know that in Wilmington there are a lot of people having a hard time.”
In fact, the area that Fiscus and Odum serve is a classic Skid Row--a place where people warm themselves over fires in garbage cans, a place where a night’s rest is found in a cardboard box, a broken-down car or, for the more fortunate, an abandoned trailer or boat. Litter is everywhere, and the area is scoured for edible leftovers by pigeons, dogs--and people.
Mostly Men
Most of the homeless are men, but there also is a contingent of couples and, to a lesser extent, families. Many have prematurely weathered faces, grubby clothes and matted hair. Most are out of a job and search daily for their next meal and a spot to rest. They often congregate near Wilmington’s Beacon Light Mission, where evening meals are served to about 60 people a day and shelter is provided to 26 homeless men, and near the Old South Hotel, where the rent is about $200 a month. A large number of the homeless are sprinkled through empty lots south of Anaheim Street.
Odum and Fiscus “know where everybody is at and they make all the stops,” said George Johnson, 58, who lives in a makeshift camp with 11 other people. “You have a lot of people here with no income at all and a lot of war veterans. If they didn’t come around, a lot of people would be hungry.”
The two women say they are doing their work for religious reasons.
During a prayer group meeting last summer, they say, they felt that God asked them to help the needy. Another church member pointed out that Wilmington--which neither woman had ever visited--was a prime spot for such an endeavor. The program was launched in late July with an initial donation of 3,000 croissants.
Feels Good
“It makes you feel good to go down there, but mostly we feel we’re doing what the Lord wants us to do,” Fiscus said. “Every place we go, we want to try to fulfill the needs that the Lord asks us to.”
The women do not impose their religion upon those they serve--they help anyone who is around when they make their stops--but say they will pray with people if asked. They also distribute Bibles to those who want them.
Eventually, they say, they would like to operate a center for feeding the hungry, which would replace their curb-side service. And ultimately, they add, they would like to start a halfway house for needy women and children. The Beacon Light houses only men.
Meanwhile, though, many recipients of their help say they are already fulfilling a great need. And on Thanksgiving, they say, that need is more than just hunger.
Holidays and Hardship
“We really have nobody,” said Fickenworth as he sipped on a bowl of beef stew. “It’s nice to be with people at times like the holidays (because) then you don’t think of the hardships as much.”
“It’s like the the holidays are the saddest time,” agreed Wally Stenberg, 39, who has been living in a vacant field for three years.
A grizzled man wearing sunglasses and a dingy jacket, Stenberg pulled out a picture of his pretty 8-year-old daughter, Erin, who he said lives in Arizona. “The meal is nice, but it also means something to have a place to go. On the holidays, you start thinking about relatives, and you wish you still had somebody around.”
Donations to the hunger relief program can be made by calling Odum at 316-345 3 or Fiscus at 316-4865. The church office, which will be relocated in several weeks, can be reached at 325-6738.
