ORANGE : She’s 87 but Feeds 200 in the Park

Every weekday just before 2 p.m., dozens of homeless and needy people gather at picnic tables in W.O. Hart Park, knowing that soon Mary McAnena will arrive.

They are patient as they watch the northwest corner of the park for the 87-year-old Irish-American woman who, for four years, has made and served them lunch.

McAnena now has the help of half a dozen community volunteers, who cook in her home and serve lunch each day to about 200 adults and children.

On Thanksgiving, McAnena will get help from the Catch Restaurant in Anaheim, which has decided to serve a special meal in the park. McAnena will use the extra time to make “care” packages for the homeless, including small towels, bar soap, razors and socks, to be given as Thanksgiving presents.

McAnena, a retired nurse, donates much of her Social Security and pension checks for meals, clothes and blankets for the people in the park. She also has received help from individuals and a local Ralphs supermarket, and has a regular group of volunteers who help serve the food.

“She’s an angel,” said John Rogers, 77, who has been helping serve desserts for three years. “I come out here because she needs help.”

As McAnena appeared at the park one day last week, a group rushed over to her with hugs and kisses. Others go to nearby cars and help carry food, plates and shoes and blankets from nearby cars. And soon, a single-file line begins to form under a gazebo.

Before one plate is served, she bows and prays that these people soon will be independent. “God helps me,” she said afterward. “If I didn’t have him, I couldn’t manage.”

Harold, 31, has been out of work off and on for the past five years, and sleeps in homeless shelters. He helps control the crowd and is usually the last in line.

“I just try to help Mary,” said Harold, who didn’t want his last name printed. “She’s a wonderful lady. She gives from her heart.”

McAnena’s meals are better than those served in the shelters, he said. On one day last week, she served a lunch of mashed potatoes, meat balls, salad, mixed vegetables, fresh bread, cake, coffee and iced tea.

“This is a variety,” Harold said. “Every single day it’s something different. Other places, it’s beans and rice, beans and rice.”

Last week, McAnena distributed about $200 worth of blankets she bought with her own money. That wasn’t enough, and she took more orders.

“Tomorrow, I bring you a blanket for you and your mother, don’t worry,” she told one woman, who came with her mother, confined to a wheelchair.

At first, about 30 people came each day to her meals. Now that the number has grown, McAnena’s dream is to open a shelter for the homeless, which she said would be “not just a place for them to sleep, but where they can take pride in themselves.”

“It’s wrong that America has allowed this to happen,” she said as she slung mashed potatoes on plate after plate.

“It’s everyone’s problem,” she said. “The love of neighbor is going down the drain. It’s me, mine and the boob tube.”

As people finished their lunch, McAnena and the others handed out sandwiches for later that night, and reminded everyone about the upcoming Thanksgiving meal, to be served to about 200 people on a first-come, first-served basis.

“They may not get a bed to lie on,” she said. “But they are the best-fed people I know because they get a balanced meal. With God’s help, they will always have a Santa Claus or a Thanksgiving dinner.”