WEST ADAMS : Mormons Give Tons of Help to First AME

Faced with the prospect of being caught short of supplies when hungry families came calling, First African Methodist Episcopal Church got a timely--and unexpected--gift: 20,000 pounds of food, courtesy of the Mormon Church.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pulled into the church’s parking lot last week to unload a semi truck filled of fruit, flour, cheese and other foodstuffs. The surprise donation, the largest one this year for First AME Church, couldn’t have come at a better time, spokeswoman Karen Caffee said.

“We were really low on food. We needed this,” Caffee said. “We’ve distributed quite a lot of it already.”

Although the church’s pantry distributes goods year-round, the holiday season is its busiest time. Caffee said the 10-ton donation enabled First AME workers to aid 1,500 families last weekend, bringing the season total to about 6,000 households.

Howard Anderson, president of the Los Angeles Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the food gathered by Mormons around the country and deposited at First AME represents both churches’ common fight against poverty. ‘

“Organizations like First AME Church help a lot more families in L.A. than many people realize,” he said. “We wanted to recognize the importance of their work. . . . We hope that a lot of others will join us in providing support for their efforts to assist struggling families.”

Caffee and other First AME Church volunteers for the food distribution, dubbed Project Santa, are expecting to dole out more food purchased at cost from the local 32nd Street Market.

But with a bad economy, Caffee said, the church has been pressed to meet growing demands with shrinking donations. She said the Mormons’ gift was a boon that she hopes signifies better times.

“We have to start working on this (holiday food project) in the summer, and we never really know what our budget is going to be,” she said.