Volunteer’s Labors Are Key to Food Program’s Success : Charity: Marta Brennan, not discouraged by scandal that has touched Irvine Temporary Housing, keeps groceries flowing to families the agency helps.

Bags of groceries that Irvine Temporary Housing gives out twice a week to struggling families don’t appear by magic.

Someone has to coordinate the food donations that come from such sources as grocery store warehouses, local markets and bakeries in the county. The foodstuffs must be checked for damage or other problems that might make them unsuitable, then be sorted, stocked and inventoried.

Marta Brennan is the volunteer who handles the task, making sure food is in the pantry and ready to be given out when needy families visit the office each Tuesday and Thursday.

“People like that deserve sainthood. That’s what keeps our organization working,” board member Margie Wakeham said.

Brennan, 47, signed up as a volunteer four months ago. And even though the former executive director of Irvine Temporary Housing had just been fired at the time, and today is under investigation for alleged financial improprieties, the brewing scandal has not reduced her motivation.

“One bad person doesn’t make the organization bad,” Brennan said in a recent interview.

Everyone at the agency recognizes the indispensable role of volunteers. The short-staffed agency, which specializes in providing temporary housing to families who are suffering financial setbacks, nearly halted the food-pantry program because of the work involved, Wakeham said.

The agency has about 20 year-round volunteers, Wakeham said, and Brennan stands out as one of the most dedicated, taking over the food pantry and keeping it going, Wakeham said.

“She’s not looking for a pat on the back. She’s not looking for any kind of accolade,” Wakeham said. “She just comes in and does it. And she does a lowly job of hauling food around and setting up boxes.”

Brennan said she began looking for a place to volunteer after her two children went away to college and left her with a lot of spare time. A friend who serves on the agency’s board of directors told her about Irvine Temporary Housing.

“I asked, ‘What can I do?’ I had never seen homeless people in Irvine,” Brennan said.

Now, after volunteering for several months, she has learned that even families in affluent Irvine are not immune from financial hardships. Families who sign up for food assistance are often headed by a single parent who works but whose paycheck doesn’t always stretch far enough, she said.

The agency will give a family a week’s worth of emergency food supplies up to once a month for about six months. The agency does not want families to rely on Irvine Temporary Housing for regular food supplies, Wakeham said.

Brennan said she works at Irvine Temporary Housing about three times a week and stays for 15 minutes or six hours, depending on what needs to be done. She could have taken up a hobby to fill her spare time, she said, but wanted to do something more productive.

“I expect it’s the way you are brought up, in giving of yourself to the community if you’re able to,” Brennan said. “Not everybody can, because they have other responsibilities.”

Although her main work is routine operation of the food pantry, Brennan also helped a group of about 150 temporary volunteers in assembling 110 Thanksgiving baskets handed out Tuesday to local families. The baskets included a frozen turkey and all the trimmings.

The agency is lucky to attract so many volunteers to help out during special occasions, Wakeham said. “It’s a great windfall right now,” she said. “But we need people like Marta who are self-motivated and who come in and do it over and over and over gain.”