Operator of Food Program Seeks Donations, Volunteers

Clyde Miller’s grandparents would have been proud of his plans for an abandoned car dealership in South Gate.

As owners of an Oklahoma restaurant during the Depression, Miller’s family fed chicken dinners to people who could not pay, he said.

After they moved to California and his parents opened a restaurant in Modesto, his family expected him to spend his breaks busing tables and giving food to people behind the kitchen.

“That’s what they always told me, ‘Do unto others what you would want them to do unto you,’ ” he said.

Now, Miller is asking others to follow his example. Since South Gate’s redevelopment agency gave him $1-a-year rent at the former site of Freedom Ford, Miller said all he needs is donations and volunteers so he can consolidate his regionwide feeding program.

There’s no shortage of customers, Miller says. The 41-year-old apartment manager learned that while working on a construction job in downtown Los Angeles in 1983, where one day he brought doughnuts to a group of homeless people.

Before long, Miller and his wife, Linda, were feeding thousands of hungry people across Los Angeles and Orange counties from their 1972 Chevy pickup, serving soup and pancakes in parks. He so impressed members of a Compton church that they ordained him as a minister.

Once homeless themselves, the Millers plan to consolidate their feeding operations into the 8,000-square-foot site at 7916 Long Beach Blvd., dubbed the Helping Hands Center. They also want to offer free clothes, certified job-training classes, shelter referrals and computer access for at-risk youths.

“What’d we’d really like to do is have one of these Helping Hands centers in every major city that wants one,” he said.

But first he needs help. Area churches have pledged their support, but so far the only money for badly needed building repairs has come from the pockets of the Millers, he said.

The city is willing to help, but South Gate Police Chief Ron George said the lease is about all it can offer for now.

“Personally, I think [the center] is something that is very much needed,” said George, who is also the interim city manager.

Information: (213) 277-9657.