Big Rigs Arrive on a Mission of Mercy

For more than a dozen Orange County churches and outreach agencies that feed families who can’t afford to buy groceries, prayers were answered Friday as they received truckloads of food to stock their pantries.

Big-rig trucks 115,000 pounds of food to the parking lot at the Pond in Anaheim as part of a food distribution effort to heighten public awareness about hunger.

Volunteers from local agencies, some driving rented trucks, picked up their share to carry back to their communities for distribution.

“This brings hope that someone cares for these people,” said Candy Nunno of Way of Life Church in Anaheim, one of 26 agencies from Southern California, including 14 from Orange County, that received the food goods. The church feeds about 250 families a week.

The food--canned goods, pasta, drinks and snack foods--arrived just in time for the holidays, Nunno said.

The distribution was organized by Feed the Children, an international nonprofit hunger and disaster relief group based in Oklahoma City; and contemporary Christian vocalist Carman, who will give a free concert at 7 tonight at the Pond.

Feed the Children sponsors a nationwide crusade to raise awareness about child hunger, Larry Jones, the group’s president and founder, said. The bulk of the food is donated by corporations.

Carman became involved in the food distribution effort “because it helps in a real, practical way to minister to children.”

Mike Jones, pastoral assistant to the poor for Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Anaheim, welcomed the provisions.

“That’s what we’re in the business of: getting a hold of as much food as we can to give it to the poor,” said Jones, whose church distributes more than 30 tons of food a month to poor people across Orange County.