Refuge for Hungry Serves 500 Each Day

More and more people flock to Southwest Community Center.

In the mornings, it is singles, often homeless men, who wait in line at the one-time pet shop for a hot breakfast.

At lunch, more destitute people show up for dry sandwiches that are at least a better deal than foraging through trash cans.

Between breakfast and lunch and in the afternoons, it is families--women and their children mostly--who stand quietly in lines to receive bags of food that may provide the bulk of family meals for the month.

The center is one of more than 100 county outlets that provide emergency food for a population increasingly plagued by hunger.

Mina Castillo, director of the food program, said more than 500 people seek aid daily. When she began working at the center 11 years ago, maybe 25 would show up for food bags and another 50 to 75 for hot meals.

“Everything is so disgusting out there,” she said. “Some of the women have husbands who work, but they do not earn enough. The rent goes up, gas prices increase, but the salary stays the same. Many people can’t survive.”

Delphila Sanchez, 30, a mother of two, said she travels across town several times a week to take advantage of the center’s food. Even so, she often worries about whether her children will go to bed hungry on a given night. She said her husband was laid off from his job as an agricultural worker, so the family has no income.

She comes to the center “because otherwise I know that my children are not getting the food that they need to be healthy,” she said softly, clutching the hand of her 6-year-old son, Angel.

“It is sometimes embarrassing to ask for help, but I know I have to,” she said. “What we need are better jobs and more pay, or else we will stay in this condition.”

Maria Garcia, 38, a mother of nine now pregnant with her 10th child, said she too must struggle to make ends meet. Her husband was discharged from a landscaping job, so the family must deal with unemployment, high medical expenses and a lack of transportation.

“I know of a lot of needy families like myself, but they don’t seek help because they are sick or they cannot get to it,” she said.

Castillo said people who use her center are not just Santa Ana residents; they also come from Westminster, Garden Grove, Costa Mesa and as far away as Mission Viejo.

Were it not for programs like hers, she said, many people would truly go hungry or steal to survive.

“When people are hungry and they don’t have any money, they will do a lot to survive,” she said.

Connie Jones, executive director of the center, said emergency food programs can provide only limited relief for what is a huge but hidden countywide problem.

“The perception is still one that the problem does not exist, because it is not on people’s doorstep,” she said. “That is something we have to work on.”