Behind the Soup Line : Feeding Poor Laborers Becomes a Controversy in Idyllic Topanga

One by one, the men, lost in conversation and the hunt for work, converged by the picnic table behind the Topanga Christian Fellowship Church.

Waiting for them was a constant in a life of uncertainty. Their soup.

“Connecting to them is so rewarding,” said Maryana Palmer, a volunteer who served the soup on a recent morning. “Even though I can’t speak Spanish, I’m able to communicate with these men. They know I care.”

Palmer helped establish PATCH (People Assisting Topanga Canyon With Helping Hands), which last week marked its first anniversary serving soup each weekday morning to the community’s several dozen day laborers.

It is no time for a celebration. On Monday, PATCH suspended soup service till at least April 1 after the church had been deluged by phone calls last week from residents opposing the kitchen. A few PATCH members have even received anonymous threats of violence at their homes.

Many Topanga residents, concerned about the threat of brush fires to their homes set by transients, spoke up at a town meeting two weeks ago calling for the closing of the kitchen. The meeting came about after authorities said a January fire had been set by a homeless person cooking on a makeshift stove.

PATCH members consider the suspension a temporary setback and vow to reopen the kitchen as soon as it is convenient.

“A lot of people come here to get rid of the ills of the city,” Palmer said, “and they don’t want to be around the poor. But they are everywhere, and they are not going to go away.”

PATCH members draw a sharp distinction between day laborers served by the soup kitchen and transients. A recent survey by PATCH showed that 26 of the 30 laborers had permanent residences; half have telephones. The workers usually arrive in Topanga about 6 a.m. by bus or car, and congregate in front of the town’s post office a few hundred yards from the church. By 9:30, when the soup is served, many have lost hope of finding any employment for the day. A few hours later, they begin the long journey back home to Los Angeles.

“Day laborers are not the problem,” Palmer said. “People are using them as a scapegoat for their fears. Day laborers are different from the people in the encampments,” she added, referring to the homeless scattered throughout the canyons.

At the town meeting two weeks ago, some residents asked that no one hire the laborers, and encouraged others to drive to the San Fernando Valley or the Westside to find workers. They hoped this would rid Topanga of the laborers. In the past, homeowners have hired the workers to do construction, gardening and general housework.

“That’s not a solution,” Palmer said. “All my neighbors hire them, and we hire them. And they are part of our community.”

According to the workers, however, some of the residents have apparently stopped hiring Topanga workers.

Speaking through an interpreter, the laborers said work has been scarce for the last two weeks. Before the controversy, they said, it was common to find about two or three days of solid employment each week. But now, for many of them, a week goes by without anything.

Working through PATCH, the laborers--mostly refugees from Mexico and Central America--put together a letter to the community outlining their concerns and aspirations. “We want to earn a living in a dignified manner,” the letter said. “We need your help and your understanding in these times.”

They are frustrated, but not close to surrendering.

“We’ll keep trying,” said Jorge Ramos, through an interpreter. Ramos, 37, came to Los Angeles to escape war-torn El Salvador. He said many of the workers look forward to the soup kitchen as their only food until they arrive home later in the day. “We’ll keep trying as long as we know there’s a possibility of getting work.”

Whatever the work situation for the laborers, PATCH has no intentions of disbanding. Several dozen volunteers rotate responsibilities: making the soup, serving it and buying the ingredients. All the produce used is donated by individuals. PATCH also distributes pamphlets in Spanish each day about workers rights, and has warned against building fires.

“We’re all worried about fires,” said Faye Jay, a member of PATCH.

Jay, who calls herself “an habitual volunteer,” wasn’t sure how she could help the hungry in Topanga. When others asked her to cook, she had her doubts.

“I told them, ‘I am not a cook.’ But they provided me with recipes,” Jay said, “and how can you say no to anyone who does that for you?”

Jay said America should be partly blamed for the problem of laborers who can’t find enough work.

“Somewhere in this country we’re promoting for them to come here,” Jay said, “and it’s not real.”

Palmer said, however, that America should bear the responsibility for aiding the refugees.

“Our government has supported the right-wing dictatorships in those countries,” Palmer said. “We have created this problem.”