U.S. Food Handouts to Poor in Jeopardy

Not long after sunrise, Rita Mercado was standing at the head of the line, waiting for her share of the free government surplus food. The quiet column in front of the MacArthur Park amphitheater was longer than usual, so she had to stand in line for more than an hour. In due time, Mercado held out her open plastic bag.

One volunteer from “Caring Hands” said “Happy Thanksgiving” as he put a five-pound block of cheese in the bag. Another smiled and added “Happy Holidays” while handing out a three-pound jar of honey. Mercado smiled back.

“We’ve been waiting for months for these rations,” said the 78-year-old Filipino woman, who lives alone. “We’ll make great cheese sandwiches, and use the honey in the tea.”

In what has become a familiar ritual, volunteers at the park Thursday morning handed out cheese and honey to more than 7,000 people. But the handouts, which have been taking place since 1981, may soon come to an end.

Thursday’s handouts were the first in Los Angeles since Department of Agriculture officials indicated this week that federal surplus giveaways could come to an end by next March because of dwindling supplies. Area food banks and distribution agencies say these cutbacks of cheese and other items likely will aggravate problems for the poor and homeless.

In a notice published in the Federal Register, Food and Nutrition Service chief Anna Kondratas said she believed that the amount of milk, cheese, rice and honey available for distribution in the 1988 fiscal year would be half the amount available in 1987. For example, the government’s “uncommitted inventory” of cheese dropped to 98 million pounds by September, down from 986 million in 1984.

Officials will continue distributing surplus food at the same rate as last year, so unless farmers step up production, the government’s inventory will be empty by next March.

“This is really a success story,” said Tino Serrano, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture’s regional office in San Francisco. “By lowering price supports and incentives, we have eliminated most of the surplus, removed the government as the farmer’s primary customer and returned agriculture to the free market system. . . . We never intended to have a surplus; the food distribution program was a temporary measure to put the farmers back on their feet.”

Serrano said that the handouts are not essential to the country’s indigent population. The food stamp and Social Security programs, he said, “provide for a more flexible diet and better nutrition.”

However, the announcement of the probable government cutbacks was a big disappointment for local relief officials.

“The government should enhance these programs, instead of eliminating them,” said Thomas Settle, who in 1984 started Caring Hands, a charitable agency that distributes about 150,000 pounds of surplus food in MacArthur Park every year. He said, “It’s ridiculous to subsidize farmers for not producing” while many Californians are going hungry.

About 2 million Californians receive free food from the government every three months, according to Ken Grayson, the state official in charge of distributing the food.

“We’ll really feel the pinch,” said Ginger Robinson, associate director for Friends in Deed, a Pasadena-based agency. Robinson said that the cutbacks will force agencies to compete for the limited available private funding. Hence, she said, organizational costs will go up and some agencies could fold.

Doris Bloch, executive director of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, the second-largest in the nation, said, “I wonder about the wisdom of cutting a program that is so beneficial to so many poor and hungry people.”

Last year the Vernon-based bank distributed 22.5 million pounds of food--half coming from the federal government--to 415 agencies in Southern California.

Among the group’s benefactors is Caring Hands, the agency that serves the depressed MacArthur Park area. A similar operation, perhaps the last, is scheduled for next February.

“Don’t stop, don’t stop,” pleaded Rita Mercado when asked what she would do if the government stops distributing cheese. “We need this for the old ones, and the young ones too.”

A few yards down the line was Billy Brown, 31, who is unemployed. “When you’re honest you stay in line and get it the best way you can,” he sighed.

Then, discussing the prospect of getting no more handouts, he added half-jokingly: “You know what the people are going to do? Go to the working people’s house and eat while they’re at work, and wash the dishes so they can come back the next day.”