Food Deliveries : Needy Are Glad of This Police Visit

For Alex Noriega of Santa Ana, Christmas came a few days early.

Two boxes of food arrived at Noriega’s door Tuesday in the arms of an unlikely Santa: a uniformed police officer.

For the eighth consecutive year, Santa Ana police delivered baskets donated by local companies to needy families in the city. On Tuesday, the scene on Noriega’s doorstep was repeated 249 times throughout Santa Ana.

The deliveries were part of an annual event organized by Coors Distributing Co., which also makes contributions and solicits food donations.

Natalie Davis, a spokeswoman for the company in Anaheim, said 1,000 baskets would be delivered throughout Orange County to screened families by today.

“I’m grateful,” the 59-year-old Noriega said as his three grandchildren grabbed excitedly at a stocking filled with candy.

“It helps with the weekly food,” said Noriega, whose legs were amputated 8 years ago because of diabetes. His family’s income of $820 a month consists of his veteran’s pension and his daughter’s minimum wages.

“Prices are too high, and with the income we have we barely make it,” Noriega said.

For the police officers, the deliveries were a welcome change from their usual duties of investigating accidents, family disputes and crimes.

“It’s the one day in the year that officers can go out and meet people in different circumstances,” Cpl. John Aguilar said.

Officer John J. Teutimez said he sympathizes with those who are less fortunate than he is.

While growing up, he and his family never lacked food, he said.

“How many people are out there looking for a meal every day? There’s a lot of them,” he said, answering his own question. “We deal with those kids and families every day.”

“I wish it (food) was more.”

Although families were notified of the deliveries, Aguilar said that in some cases the children’s initial reaction was, “ ‘Why are we (police) there? What did we do?’ ” But when they understood, they became excited about the boxes, which included two chickens, canned vegetables and fruit, rice, beans, tortillas and candy, he said.

Graciela Padilla, 28, said that without the food delivery, “I can’t make ends meet.”

The mother of four, who rents a two-bedroom apartment, said she receives about $674 every month from the government. She recently lost her job packing oranges because the work is seasonal.

For Rufujio Armenta, 77, the gift came just in time--three nephews from Mexico City are visiting Armenta and her 18-year-old godchild.

She was grateful about receiving the gift and didn’t feel embarrassed at all. “Why should I feel embarrassed?” she asked in Spanish. “It’s in the spirit of the holidays.

“I’m very grateful because my family just arrived. . . . It would have been a lot harder without the help.”

What made the gift even better, she said, was that she used to help Latino students with their English several years ago, and this was the first time somebody gave her something.

For Melinda N. Tauanuu, 25, the gift was bittersweet. She was glad to receive it, but her husband’s uncle had just died and they were leaving for Las Vegas for the wake.

“I just want to say thank you very much to the Santa Ana Police Department and a Merry Christmas to them,” she said.