MISSION VIEJO : County Funds Save Adopt-A-Neighbor

South Orange County’s largest private food-distribution center has been saved from imminent closure by a grant from the Orange County Board of Supervisors, organization officials said Wednesday.

“Without it, we would be closing our doors,” said Kathryn McCullough, founder and executive director of Adopt-A-Neighbor, a Mission Viejo group that helps feed 15,000 to 20,000 people a month and also serves as an area referral service for jobs, counseling and senior citizens organizations. “This will keep us open.”

The supervisors unanimously approved a $5,000 grant to the organization Tuesday, enough to pay its rent and utility bills for about two months. The grant is effective immediately, and the money should be available within a few days, county officials said.

Without it, the organization, founded in 1972 and run for years out of a garage, would probably have shut down this month, McCullough said. The organization was behind on its rent, and owners of the property had threatened eviction earlier this month.

McCullough credited Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez with saving the organization in its darkest hour. Vasquez, she said, responded quickly to the group’s plea for help and pushed the $5,000 donation request through in less than a month.

“He really rescued us,” McCullough said. “He has been extremely sensitive to the needs of the people in his district, which is rare for a politician.”

“They are meeting a need that exists out there,” Vasquez said. “Whenever there’s that kind of need, we want to do what we can to help.”

At the same time, he added, “this is not meant to be permanent. We want to help establish a way for them to develop some fund-raising techniques.”

McCullough, an ordained minister in the fundamentalist Christian Boatwright Ministry, said Adopt-A-Neighbor pays about $1,200 a month in rent and nearly that much in utilities. The organization has more than 100 people, she added, all of them volunteers.

“What we’re all about is neighbors helping neighbors,” she said. “We’ve got to get a handle on these problems before we have a cesspool of Skid Rows in Orange County.”