ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : On Handling the Homeless

An Orange woman who has been providing meals to the homeless in a local park finds herself not so much a “point of light”--President Bush’s term for humanitarian volunteers--as a “point of contention.” The city ought to do what it can to help her.

Every weekday for the last five years, Mary McAnena, 88, an Irish-born widow, has pulled together food for homeless people in W.O. Hart Park, near her home. This generosity has been financed by her small pension and some Social Security money, and by no small amount of dedication from volunteers who cook the meals in McAnena’s tiny kitchen and transport them to the park.

McAnena has recently been sent hostile correspondence by angry residents who say her effort has brought “bums” and crime to the neighborhood. So instead of receiving the accolades she deserves, McAnena has been receiving threats and such symbolic correspondence as a plastic bag full of dirty clothes delivered air mail over her back-yard fence. Police are investigating the threats.

These indignities should not have to be confronted. The need is great; the flock of hungry people has grown to 200 daily. McAnena has vowed to go on feeding the poor, despite threats. But clearly, she needs a lift from the larger community. It’s good that the city has been talking with the St. Vincent de Paul Society’s Orange chapter about moving McAnena’s lunch program to that facility. In situations such as this, cities have roles to play as facilitators.

Speaking of creative solutions for feeding the homeless, a well-done is due for Share Our Selves, the largest charity in Orange County. It has plans to build a kitchen to process leftovers from restaurants into healthy soups and stews for the needy.

Efforts such as McAnena’s and SOS’s are a great help and deserve support.