COUNTYWIDE : Food Center Marks 50-Millionth Pound

The Food Distribution Center in Orange, a private, nonprofit organization aimed at feeding the county’s indigent, held a celebration Tuesday to mark the 50-millionth pound of food it has provided.

“The remarkable thing was that the 50-millionth pound was distributed on the last day of our eighth year,” said Deana Weaver, a resource specialist for the center. “It was kind of serendipity I guess.”

The Food Distribution Center is a food bank that relies wholely on private contributions and donations from major food manufacturers. It sells food to agencies serving the poor including shelters for abused children and homes for the elderly at the much-reduced rate of about 4 cents per pound, Weaver said.

The center reached its magic number Friday about 2:30 p.m. as it distributed food to Lutheran Social Services, which offers food, shelter, counseling and other services in Fullerton and Garden Grove.

“I’ll tell you, it was an absolute thrill and surprise,” said Bonnie Miller, program manager for Lutheran Social Services.

On Tuesday, about 40 people gathered to eat cake and hear speeches as center officials presented representatives of Lutheran Social Services with a plaque, two dozen Disneyland passes and a football autographed by Flipper Anderson, a wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams.

Lutheran Social Services is one of 215 agencies that receive food from the distribution center, the largest food bank in the county.

The food distributed Friday was left over from Operation Desert Storm and is being passed out around the nation through a program called Desert Share, Weaver said.

“I’m not sure exactly what the 50-millionth pound was,” Weaver said. “It could have been anything from a western omelet to applesauce. . . . When you and I go shopping, we might get 10 bags of groceries. When people come shopping here, they get about a ton.”

Since it opened eight years ago, the distribution center has grown from 10,000 square feet to 42,000 square feet and 80,000 cubic feet of cold storage. Each week it distributes almost 150,000 pounds of food that reaches about 170,000 people per month.

Saturday, the Food Distribution Center will have an open house to launch an annual event in which 20,000 Boy Scouts fan out through neighborhoods to collect bags of food from about 600,000 families in Orange County.

The open house, at 426-A West Almond Ave., will begin at 9:30 a.m. with awards for Desert Storm veterans and speeches by hamburger magnate Carl Karcher and Angels pitcher Burt Blyleven. Tours of the facility will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.