Costa Mesa : Soup Kitchen to Serve Hungry at Rea Center

From the senior citizens’ center she directs, Merle Hatleberg can see the line of destitute people winding around the block. They have come for the free medical services offered by the clinic across the street, and they often wait an hour, in all kinds of weather, before getting in.

It was these people--and others who come to Costa Mesa agencies seeking food, shelter and other necessities--that inspired Hatleberg to try to start a soup kitchen in the outdoor snack bar of the senior citizens’ Rea Community Center.

Hatleberg received approval from the city earlier this month and is now seeking donations and volunteers for the “Someone Cares” soup kitchen, which she hopes to open June 15. “I see such a need here,” she said. “This will be for anyone who’s hungry.”

Peg Schmitz, director of the Interfaith Shelter in Costa Mesa, said the soup kitchen would greatly help the 75 to 80 people who come to the shelter each day. Those people “are not allowed to stay here during the day and don’t always have a place to go,” she said.

The soup kitchen will be open from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Rea Community Center snack bar at 661 Hamilton Street.