Countywide : Meal Provides Food for Thought on Hunger

To remind themselves and others that many Orange County residents often go hungry, community leaders and business officials went on a diet of bread and water Tuesday.

About 70 leaders, including Thomas F. Riley, chairman of the Board Supervisors, and county Republican Party Chairman Tom Fuentes, joined the “No Lunch Luncheon” sponsored by a local food bank.

The luncheon was organized by the private and nonprofit Food Distribution Center and held at Antonello Ristorante in Santa Ana. It was designed to call attention to hunger and to encourage people to donate food and other goods for the poor, not only during the holidays, but year-round.

“Hunger exists 365 days of the year and people are surprised by the level of the problem in Orange County,” said Margaret O’Malley, spokeswoman for the Food Distribution Center. She said that about 16% of the county’s population, about 400,000 people, do not get enough to eat each day.

While the main purpose of the event was to increase awareness of hunger, participants also donated about $15,000 to the center. During the 90-minute luncheon, they ate bread and soup and sipped water and wine, O’Malley said.

The center does not feed anyone directly, but supplies food to 277 charities countywide. Indirectly, the center provides food to about 180,000 people each month.

O’Malley said that while people “always assume it’s the homeless or the street person” who goes hungry, many without enough food are senior citizens and children.

Combined, those two groups receive about 58% of the center’s food, she said, adding that “they are the innocent victims.”

For more information on donating money or food, or to volunteer, call (714) 771-1343. Checks made payable to the Food Distribution Center may be sent to: 426 A, W. Almond Ave., Orange, 92666.