She’s Moving Just Down the Road After Protests : Soup Lady Lifts a Last Ladle at Center

Merle Hatleberg, the embattled grandmother who runs a Costa Mesa soup kitchen, ladled her last dish of chili at the Rea Community Center Friday, then prepared to move into a new home a few blocks away.

Hatleberg, whose Someone Cares soup kitchen became the focus of neighborhood protests over the number of poor and homeless people that it attracts, has been offered a new--albeit temporary--home at the South Coast Christian Church, where she will begin serving noontime meals on Monday.

“I’m so relieved,” she said, gazing at the 40 or so people who had gathered at Rea Community Center for the last time to partake of her homemade chili, biscuits and salad. “It’s gonna be so wonderful--and, hopefully, it’ll solve some of the problems.”

Hatleberg has been dishing up homemade soup at 661 Hamilton St. for more than 2 years. But she agreed to try to find another home if it would help ease tensions over the numbers of poor and homeless people attracted to social-service facilities at the center.

In March, the Costa Mesa City Council decided that it would reassess conditions in the neighborhood after the soup kitchen found another home to determine whether other service groups in the center--most notably Share Our Selves (SOS), a group that provides food, clothing and medical care for the needy--should also move.

Hatleberg expressed no anger at having to leave her roomy kitchen for the smaller church space, but she said Friday that neighborhood residents had “blown things out of proportion” with their complaints about the people who sought help--and Hatleberg’s soup--at the center.

“I can see both sides--there were some problems” she conceded. “But there weren’t a lot of people hanging around. You see most of these people walking here. They live here. These are Costa Mesa people, and we should be taking care of them.”

The Rev. Bob Ewing, pastor of South Coast Christian Church, agreed.

“Our church has taken the position that we should be serving and helping the community as much as possible,” he said. “It came to our attention that (Hatleberg) was moving out to take pressure off SOS, and we thought helping her was something we could do.”

Ewing said the church has offered its facilities at Victoria Street and Placentia Avenue to Hatleberg for up to a year, until she can find a permanent home. “But if things don’t work out, I don’t see any problem extending that,” he added.

The church is in a slightly more commercial area than the Rea center, and Ewing said he foresees no problems with neighbors.

“There’s another church next door that has a school, and I’ve talked to the pastor and principal,” he said. “But this is a working-class neighborhood where many people can utilize these services.”

While opponents of the soup kitchen and SOS have been most vocal, some residents around the Rea Center voiced regret that Hatleberg had to move her operation.

“I couldn’t see that she was causing any problem,” said Ginny Torres, 29, who lives on Meyer Street, across from the center. “I don’t see that many people, and I think the people who do come really need help. There are still going to be homeless people going there to use other services, so what does (her moving) matter?”

Jean Forbath, founder and director of SOS, which had generated controversy of its own, expressed hope that the long-running neighborhood dispute would die down with the soup kitchen’s move.

“I think it’s wonderful what she did,” Forbath said. “I hope she’ll find a welcome haven and that people will appreciate what she has to offer.”

Forbath said she hopes that SOS ultimately will be allowed to stay in its present home.

“We feel we’re in the right place to serve the residents of this neighborhood and are trying to be good neighbors,” she said.

As Hatleberg and her staff of volunteers began the chore of moving the stove and other things to the church Friday, there was a brief goodby ceremony over a huge soup pot.