Free Picnics for Homeless Run Afoul of Regulators : Success may be fatal to meal program as the bureaucracy gets into the act.

A Van Nuys charity fell victim to its own success when it requested a larger space for a weekend soup kitchen that has been gaining popularity in a local park, organizers complained Tuesday.

A request to expand the “poor people’s picnic” brought on a threat from park officials to banish the operation entirely, which would end the free meals, organizers said.

“We don’t know of any other place where we could do it, or we’d be doing it there,” said Wayne Harr, founder of the Institute of Human Services in Van Nuys.

The institute has organized San Fernando Valley church members to prepare and serve free meals on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Community Center, a 20-acre park on Huston Street in Sherman Oaks.

Problems began when the institute’s Dinners Program attracted so many homeless people--78 arrived for a recent meal--that it outgrew the southwest corner of the park that it had been using.

Harr said he sought permission from Tom Davidson, senior recreation director of the park, to move to the grounds of a senior citizen’s center at the northern end of the park. “He kind of groaned and said, ‘I wished you wouldn’t have told me about this,’ ” Harr said.

Harr said Davidson then told him that he would need two permits--one from the county Department of Health Services and the other from the Los Angeles City Department of Social Services.

After obtaining the city permit, Harr said, he contacted county health department officials, who “said we couldn’t have a permit because we were not preparing the food in a licensed facility, and it wasn’t going to be be transported in a permitted vehicle.”

Davidson confirmed that rangers will evict the charity if it fails to obtain the proper permits.

Frank Listick, chief environmental health officer for the West Valley District of the county health department, confirmed that the Dinners Program probably violates state law, which requires that food for mass consumption be prepared and transported under regulated conditions. The food at the “picnics” has usually been prepared at home by church members and transported to the park in their vehicles.

The law allows organizations to have occasional unregulated events, Listick said, “so long as there aren’t more than three in 90 days. This sounds like it’s being done on a regular basis. We’d definitely be concerned.”

In the case of homemade food, he said, “We don’t know what kind of conditions the food is being prepared in. There could be a vermin problem or a roach problem or a problem with facilities for washing hands.”

Harr dismissed the health department concerns, pointing out that no illness has been reported among Dinners Program regulars.

“These are people who otherwise would be eating out of Dumpsters or garbage cans, and this is food prepared by the loving hands of church members and civic organizations,” he said.

William Emmons, pastor of the Covenant Faith Center, a Northridge church that supplied food for 50 people last Saturday, agreed, calling health department concerns “sort of absurd.”

Harr said the project would have to be abandoned if it is not allowed to return to a public park, leaving a void in services to the Valley’s homeless.

“The guests have said that we’re the only thing that exists for them in terms of hot meals during the weekends this summer,” he said.

Davidson, the park director, said he warned Harr about the permit during a conversation six weeks ago.

“I told him even before he started that he’d have to apply for permits, but then I didn’t hear back from him,” Davidson said, adding that he was not aware that the dinners were being held.

But Harr disagrees, saying it did not occur to him at first to seek permission to hold the homeless picnics.

“I figured anyone could use the park within reason,” he said. “It’s public after all.”

Emmons said he is “impressed with Mr. Harr’s ability to get so many church groups and other organizations involved in helping the poor.” Harr said he does not benefit financially from the charity and is supported by an independent source of income.

The local Salvation Army has temporarily suspended serving hot meals on Fridays and Sunday evenings through August because of indebtedness and staff vacations, said Capt. John Purdell, director of the San Fernando Valley Corps Community Center in Van Nuys.

Purdell said he knows of no other charities regularly offering hot meals. However, he noted that sandwiches to take out are always available at the Salvation Army in Van Nuys.

Harr, a former psychotherapist who specialized in treating disturbed children, said he founded the institute in April to “help eliminate human suffering.”

He said the park was picked for its central location and proximity to other charities for the homeless. At the first poor people’s picnic June 6, eight people showed up at a wooded corner of the park where families often picnic and youths set up volleyball nets, Harr said.

Word traveled quickly, and, on July 26, 78 people showed up for the meal that began at 3:30. After last weekend, Harr said, 12 churches, one religious society and a civic organization had fed about 660 people.

Harr said his organization wants to move to the lawn near the senior citizen’s center because of its lack of trees, which will leave more room for tables, and its relative privacy, which should help relations with other park-goers.

Harr said an institute volunteer urged him to contact the parks department, and he complied because he did not want the Dinners Program to conflict with any activities of the elderly.

Now, Harr said, he regrets that move because it backfired: “I just wanted to do something to help ease the pain of the human condition.”