For 27 Years, the FISH Pantry Has Strictly Put the Needy First

There’s Florence, Lila, Dottie, Doris and Eva, for instance. And Irene, who is coordinator of FISH of West Valley, the 27-year-old food pantry and emergency aid agency that relies on church volunteers.

Those women and others responded in a hectic December to 1,600 telephone calls to FISH, a reference to the ancient Christian symbol for Christ.

At Christmastime, they distributed gifts for nearly 500 children and bulging baskets of food for 165 families. Those figures continue to rise each year, they said.

But no last names, please, said Irene.

She declined to give her family name, even in confidence, in order to adhere to the group’s strict bylaws requiring privacy and security. “We don’t give anyone our home phones either--not even to the operators for our answering service.”

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The Chatsworth-based group is one of 19 food pantries in a San Fernando Valley coalition that encourages volunteers to work in relative anonymity. But FISH of West Valley “may be more strict” than most, said Ileene Parker, who coordinates the coalition network for the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council.

“These people put in such a tremendous amount of time that they need to feel this is not going to follow them home,” said Parker, referring both to possible harassment from unhappy recipients and to the need to relax.

FISH of West Valley operates much like the coalition’s other 18 food pantries, except that only it and a Catholic church in North Hollywood, St. Jane Frances de Chantal, also provide vouchers for temporary shelter.

Parker praised the efforts of Irene, who was a supermarket checker and office worker for 36 years before joining the Chatsworth group just before the Northridge earthquake four years ago. “Irene works harder than any paid person would,” said Parker.

The FISH volunteer movement spread from England to the United States in 1967, and the West Valley group formed shortly after the 1971 Sylmar earthquake rattled the Valley, said Louise Curinga, who became its first coordinator.

Louise now gives her last name because she retired from FISH in 1996. After 20 years as caretaker for her ailing husband before his death and the consuming work with FISH, the 76-year-old Curinga said she is enjoying her retirement with trips to Hawaii and Egypt last year and a planned journey to South Africa later this month.

Recalling the volunteer group’s first years, Curinga said, “We gave lots of rides to people--if your car didn’t work in Chatsworth then, you didn’t have buses to fall back on.”

Operating a food pantry from the very beginning at the Congregational Church of Chatsworth, FISH of West Valley has drawn steady support from nearby St. Eudes Catholic Church as well as Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, United Methodist and other churches in the western half of the Valley. Periodic church collections and individual donations supplement government money channeled through the Valley Interfaith Council, such as from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Standing in the pantry this week at Chatsworth Congregational, Irene showed off a new refrigerator. “This came from FEMA,” said Irene, who is a parishioner at St. Eudes.

The FISH food pantry recently reduced its hours to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 4 and 5 p.m., figuring the other days are covered by food pantries at Prince of Peace Episcopal Church in Woodland Hills and other locations around the Valley.

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Much more time is consumed in responding to--and sometimes turning down--pleas for help passed along by operators who answer more than 25 calls daily to (818) 882-FISH.

One of her tasks Thursday was to drive to the Department of Water and Power office in Winnetka to pay a portion of the bill for a down-and-out family.

“We usually pay no more than 20% of the bill so that at least the power will stay on,” she said.

“I just had a phone call from a young lady who wanted us to pay her gas bill, but I checked our records and we paid her October bill,” Irene said, “I told her we can only do it once a year.” In some cases, Irene said, she can refer families in distress to agencies such as the Red Cross for help.

“Handing out food gives you a good feeling,” Irene said. “But when you meet a pregnant woman on the streets, get her into a shelter or a home, she has the baby, gets a job and then an apartment of her own--that’s especially rewarding.”