Help That Makes the Ends Meet : Buena Park Charity Deals With Basic Needs of Poor

Delores Morris sifted through the racks of clothing, picking out shirts for her husband and children.

“My husband’s on disability and it’s hard to make ends meet,” said Morris, a mother of three who lives in Buena Park with her in-laws.

Morris, 29, said that because the disability checks are meager, there is no money left to buy food or clothing. “I’m just glad we have a place to live,” she said.

A friend referred Morris to the Buena Park Coordinating Council, a nonprofit program that assists families and street people with food, clothing, bus passes or a night’s stay at a motel.

“If it weren’t for them, a lot of times we wouldn’t have anything in the refrigerator,” Morris said. “They help with the little things--like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when my refrigerator’s empty.”

An average of 25 families visit the Coordinating Council each day to pick up a box of food--rice, beans, bread, butter, macaroni and cheese, soups, cookies and canned items, said the organization’s president, Jerry Sigler, who’s been an 18-year volunteer of the group.

“There’s definitely a need throughout Orange County--there are a lot of people barely making it,” he said. “We feel we fill in that spot when people have to use their finances for something else--like rent--we can help them with food and clothing.

“We take care of just about any emergency need.”

The Coordinating Council, which originally was organized about 45 years ago to help needy farmers, recently moved from an old post office building on 5th Street and Fullerton Avenue to an industrial building off Orangethorpe Avenue.

Adell Colombini, who has been director of the program for 31 years, said the group was forced by circumstance to move to the smaller building, which is about 1,500 square feet, or about a third of the size of the post office.

“The roof at the post office was caving in,” said Colombini, 74. The organization’s new home is “nice, but it’s too small. It limits donations on furniture, TVs. I can’t take them now because I don’t have the room.”

But, she said, the organization can’t complain since the rent and utilities are paid through a grant from the city. Besides, she said, it was difficult finding a suitable location.

“We were just happy to get this,” Colombini said.

The post office building is owned by the city’s Redevelopment Agency, and the city didn’t want to invest in the building since it’ll be torn down, Sigler said.

The program is also supported through donations by service and civic organizations, churches, schools, individuals and local businesses, such as Nabisco Inc., Lucky Food Centers and Albertson’s.

Colombini said people in need don’t seem to have a problem finding the new location, tucked in the rear of Orangethorpe Business Park and open only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 1 to 3 p.m.

During the past three decades, Colombini said, needs have changed and the numbers of needy have grown.

“I’ve been doing this for 31 years and I still get tears in my eyes,” Colombini said. “I have people who come in here who are about ready to pass out from hunger.”

Both Colombini and Sigler said they’ll continue volunteering many hours to keep the program open. And once again, this Christmas they’ll be making 500 baskets of food and toys for local families.

“It gives you a lot of self-satisfaction to know you’re helping them,” Sigler said. “I listen to their sad story and I want to give them the whole shop.”