Homeless Dine in Protest of Plan to Curb Soup Kitchens

About 150 homeless people gathered outside City Hall on Monday night for an early Thanksgiving dinner and to protest a city proposal that would place restrictions on soup kitchens.

The Orange County Committee to Feed the Homeless, a group made up of five organizations, served a turkey dinner and handed out hundreds of blankets to people who began lining up at 6 p.m.

The dinner was intended to protest a proposal to require mobile soup kitchens to set up portable toilets, tables and trash cans at each stop, according to Jonathan Parfrey, a member of Catholic Worker, a Santa Ana group that serves hot meals every Monday from a van.

People began arriving outside City Hall at about 5:45 p.m., pushing shopping carts or carrying plastic bags with their belongings. As volunteers began serving 16 turkeys, 150 pounds of mashed potatoes, 10 gallons of gravy and peas, the guests returned with their plates to nearby benches, or sat on the concrete, or simply stood and ate. Some carried candles given to them by the volunteers.

Tom, who didn’t want to give his last name, said he has been homeless for five months. After receiving his plate, Tom observed: “I know the city has been harassing a lot of us, so it means so much just to sit here and eat dinner, right outside the chambers.”

Another guest, Pat Ford, who sleeps at night in the Civic Center area, said: “It’s not so much for the food that we’re here. It’s to say to the City Council, please help us.”

Councilmen Ron May, Miguel A. Pulido and Richards L. Norton helped to distribute hygiene kits and blankets to the homeless, some of whom jeered them.

Scott Mather, a member of the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force, described the dinner as a grass-roots protest against the plan to place restrictions on soup kitchens.

“This shows that the homeless are not voiceless,” he said. “They are saying to the council, ‘Stop this proposal before it gets too far.’ ”

A citizens group called Cleanup Our Businesses and Residential Areas helped draft that proposal and filed it with the city’s Planning Department. It is undergoing legal screening, city officials said, before going to the Planning Commission and City Council.

Groups that help the homeless in Santa Ana say the proposal would be too costly and eventually would force them to stop serving food.

“Santa Ana is trying to limit the serving of any kind of food to the homeless,” Parfrey said. “We are willing to work with the city, but they are not willing to work with us.”

City Manager David N. Ream said the city does not have a policy on the homeless and has been working with the organizations. Ream declined to comment on the protest.

Orange County has about 10,000 homeless people, 1,500 of whom stay in Santa Ana, it is estimated.

The city has had a shaky relationship with its homeless populace for years, advocates for the homeless said. In 1988, the city confiscated belongings of the homeless, such as bedding and clothes stashed around the Civic Center. The city stopped its actions after a protest was filed and allowed homeless people to pick up their belongings at Centennial Regional Park.