JAUNTS : Hearty Hike Takes Steps to Aid Hungry : The fund-raising walk from Ventura to Santa Barbara is being staged by Food Share, an organization that helps to feed the needy.

Want to take a walk? A long walk, say from Ventura to Santa Barbara, a distanceof, oh, roughly 30 miles?

Food Share for Ventura County is holding its fourth annual Hike Against Hunger, a scenic coastal trek with an overnight stop for walkers in Carpinteria.

The hike, scheduled Feb. 25 and 26, gives visibility to Food Share, which distributes food from its Oxnard base to agencies that serve the needy. It’s also a fund-raiser because walkers can collect pledges per mile for the organization.

Last year, 35 people made the trip, raising $12,000. Stan Howlett, 67, was one of them. The retired Santa Paula resident has made all of them, and he’s warming up for the next one.

“You meet a lot of nice people,” he said. “Last year, a couple carried a baby in a backpack.”

Howlett isn’t worried about getting pooped and not finishing. He already walks about seven miles five days a week--from the west end of Santa Paula to the east end and back. When he isn’t walking or teaching tennis, he does volunteer work for a number of organizations.

“I didn’t want to just roll up and die,” he said.

The annual Hike Against Hunger was started by a couple of other avid walkers, Nancy and Bill Mitchell, also longtime Food Share volunteers. Their first hike drew 12 people and, since then, it’s grown steadily.

This year, about 50 have signed up to walk and another 25 are expected, according to Jim Mangis, executive director of Food Share.

The walk starts at the Holiday Inn near the Ventura Pier at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 25. Participants follow the bike path north along the coast, then Pacific Coast Highway to La Conchita, where they have lunch. At La Conchita, walkers must travel single file on the shoulder of the U. S. 101 for a couple of miles.

The first day of the hike ends in Carpinteria after 17 miles. There, hikers can stay overnight at the Motel 6, which is offering a break on rooms, Mangis said. Some hikers choose to camp at the beach.

The second day’s leg into Santa Barbara via Summerland is shorter, 13 miles. The trek ends about 3 p.m. at Follow Your Heart Restaurant on Milpas Street in Santa Barbara.

Support vehicles follow the hikers with baggage, drinks and fruit, offering a lift to anyone along the way who can’t make it. The stream of hikers--wearing Food Share T-shirts--carry flags, some walking at a faster pace then others.

“It’s really a grass-roots project,” Mangis said of the hike. “The whole mission is to end hunger--it really does exist.”

The money raised by the hike will be used toward expansion of Food Share’s refrigeration space, he said.

Food Share’s roots date back to 1978 when seven people decided to do something about the food left to waste in fields after harvesting. Working out of a garage, they began gleaning fields and giving the produce to the needy.

That venture has blossomed into a full-blown operation. According to Mangis, Food Share has its own 13,000-square-foot building with 450 volunteers who still glean and retrieve surplus food for about 300 agencies that help the poor.

Details

* WHAT: Hike Against Hunger, a 30-mile walk to benefit Food Share of Ventura County.

* WHEN: Hike starts at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 25, concluding Feb. 26 about 3 p.m.

* WHERE: Starts at the Holiday Inn near the Ventura Pier and finishes in Santa Barbara at Follow Your Heart Restaurant on Milpas Street.

* HOW MUCH: No entry fee, but hike is a fund-raiser so participants are collecting pledges.

* CALL: 983-7100, to sign up and get pledge forms.

* FYI: Hikers who don’t want to collect pledges can simply contribute to the cause if they wish.