Area Donations Bolster L.A. Relief : Riot aftermath: Contributions include food and diapers. Some organizers aim at an understanding of the unrest’s causes.

Joseph Moss has helped distribute tons of food, diapers and medicine to residents in areas hardest hit by the rioting that followed the Rodney G. King beating trial verdict.

Moss, president of the men’s group at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, says he is impressed by the volume of donations arriving from Ventura County.

“We understand that a lot of people up there are very hurt by the reputation they got because of the verdict, but by their actions, they are showing the whole country who they really are,” Moss said. The church is coordinating relief efforts across Los Angeles.

Ventura County relief efforts range from church-sponsored food drives to collection boxes placed in offices of elected officials and even canned-food drives run by schoolchildren.

Many organizers said their primary concern was aiding children and elderly people in the devastated areas, but some said their plans go beyond helping victims.

Their aim--to better understand why the riots occurred in Los Angeles and then take actions so that they do not occur here--was put into action Thursday night in Ventura during a town hall meeting co-sponsored by the Ventura Ministerial Assn. and Project Understanding.

“Ventura has a very serious problem and we need to address it before it becomes a problem like in the other cities,” said the Rev. John Baylor of Olivet Baptist Church in Ventura. About 80 community activists, church leaders and area residents joined Baylor in the meeting at the Total Christian Life Center.

Speakers blamed the Los Angeles riots on growing frustration among poor blacks and Latinos struggling with unemployment, low self-esteem, discrimination and a shortage of affordable housing. Activists said they are planning a march in Ventura on June 13 to protest institutional racism and police brutality in the county.

“Racism is like a cancer that has produced distrust and polarized our community,” said activist Gabe Serrano of Ventura.

In addition to co-sponsoring the town hall meeting, the ministerial association was active in the food drives, nearly filling a big-rig trailer with goods collected at six local churches.

Donors also contributed more than $1,300 at the six Ventura and Oxnard churches established as collection centers, said the Rev. Dick Weston-Jones of the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Ventura.

“People here feel very sad at what they’ve seen happen in Los Angeles, and I think they want to see people who are in pain taken care of,” Weston-Jones said.

County Supervisor Vicky Howard’s Simi Valley office was also inundated with donations in the weeks after the rioting.

A Salvation Army truck loaded with food and diapers donated by Simi Valley residents made four trips from Howard’s office to distribution points in Los Angeles this week, administrative aide Linda White said.

The response surprised workers in Howard’s office, White said. “We just had person after person coming in to make donations, and there are still loads of foodstuff being brought by,” White said.

Another food drive has been organized by an 11-year-old student at Junipero Serra Elementary School in Ventura.

Tovah Bevil says she pitched the idea to Principal Tom Carmody after seeing riot coverage on television.

“I saw on the news and in the paper that people’s houses and stores were burning down, and that they weren’t able to cash their checks or buy food,” said Tovah, who has never visited Los Angeles.

“I just thought it would be neat if the school had a canned-food drive to help out, because there’s a lot of people out there who can’t afford food right now,” Tovah said.

The food drive was kicked off during the school’s annual ice cream social earlier this week. Hundreds of cans were donated, Tovah said, all of which will be delivered to Los Angeles by a local church group.

Times staff writer Sherry Joe contributed to this story.