Sleeping Bag Distribution Is Under Way

At first, it seemed that Mary Ann Decaen might need help loading the sleeping bags into her station wagon.

She did not. She had done it before. Using both hands Wednesday morning, she flung one bag after another into the rear of her car until it was full.

“We appreciate this every year,” said Decaen, community services coordinator for Catholic Charities in Ventura. “We look forward to it almost as much as our clients.”

Her clients are homeless, and the sleeping bags are intended to keep them warm. On a cold morning, in a cold Camarillo warehouse, Operation Warm-Up kicked off its annual campaign Wednesday to keep the homeless warm through the winter.

For the past six years, the nonprofit group has provided sleeping bags, blankets, socks and other items to social service agencies, which in turn distribute them to homeless people. The program runs through April.

“It’s in our heart to do it,” said Bob Cuccias, president of Operation Warm-Up. “We just feel good that we are helping the right people.”

Operation Warm-Up stocks its Camarillo warehouse on an annual budget of about $36,000. That money is raised by donations and by the group’s annual celebrity golf tournament--the Scramble for Warmth.

“The need is real,” Cuccias said. “Let’s face it, there are colder places than Southern California. But I wouldn’t want to spend the night outside without anything to keep me warm.”

Ed Holly, with St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Camarillo, was first in line Wednesday. The sleeping bags and socks he picked up will help resupply a weekly distribution program run by the church.

Eduardo Valdovinos of Catholic Charities in Oxnard also took advantage of the program. He said it wouldn’t take long for the homeless to claim the items he picked up Wednesday.

“They’re as good as gone,” he said. “As soon as I give one out, the word will be out and soon they will be all gone.”