Charities Feasting on Holiday Donations

A generous holiday spirit fueled by a booming economy has generated a record level of donations to local organizations that help feed the poor.

At about the halfway point in their annual holiday drives, food banks and pantries report they are not short of supplies as they were in previous years.

Leaders of such organizations say, however, that they are seeing no shortage of people in need of the free food they provide.

And that, they say, signals another side of the bustling economy: the large numbers of working poor struggling to get by.

“The economy is much stronger this year, but a lot of people are not doing better,” said Jim Mangis, executive director of Food Share, the county’s largest food bank, whose supplies mostly feed the working poor. “There are growing numbers of families trying to live on $6 or $7 an hour.”

During November and December, more people with limited incomes turn to food pantries because expenses associated with the holidays squeeze their already limited budgets.

Karen, who asked that her last name not be given, is a Newbury Park woman who has been on disability and uses the Manna Conejo Valley Food Bank in Thousand Oaks to stretch her and her husband’s income.

“It would be really difficult to get by” without the food bank, she said. “I’ve lived here my entire life, and . . . it was hard to make the decision to come [to Manna]. Once I did, it wasn’t so bad.”

Karen said that she occasionally donates oranges and other fruit which grow on her property when she has extra and that when she gets back on her feet will donate more.

Food Share, based in Oxnard, serves nearly 43,000 people a month during the holiday season, up from 38,000 a month during the rest of the year. The regional food bank, which plans to prepare 1,000 Christmas baskets, distributes food to more than 200 assistance organizations in the county, which then hand the food to those in need.

“Normally, the families’ budgets are so tight, they wouldn’t be able to put together a holiday meal,” Mangis said.

Most months, Community Assistance of Santa Paula provides food to 125 families that live in the town. But during the holiday season, that number jumps to 200, said Joy Wayman, a spokeswoman for the organization.

“People don’t buy as much food and they come get ours, then they save money for toys,” Wayman said.

Food banks and pantries say they are pleased with their stock of supplies, and they attribute that to the success of various food drives and the generosity of people who independently contributed either money or food.

Food reserves at Manna “could not look better, we have done so well,” said administrator Pauline Saterbo, as she called “thank you” to an anonymous donor who had just dropped off several boxes of canned goods, mayonnaise, mustard and peanut butter.

Manna treasurer David Wender said that through the end of October the organization had received more than $1.5 million worth of food, up from $920,000 last year at the same time. Manna receives most of its donations from individuals, civic groups, churches and temples. It has been offered a matching grant of $2,500 from Amgen if it can raise the same amount from new donors.

At Thousand Oaks-based Many Mansions, record-levels of food--including 200 turkeys that hockey legend and part-time Thousand Oaks resident Wayne Gretzky dropped off before Thanksgiving--has arrived for residents living in the organization’s low-income housing.

“The last couple of years, the community has been exceptionally generous, and that’s probably because of the economy,” said Lisa Safaeinili, director of resource development. “But we are looking for donations for the rest of the year. People need to eat all year round.”

By the end of November, Food Share had collected 45,000 pounds of food, compared with 25,000 at the same time last year, said spokeswoman Susie Burmester. She credited participants in the organization’s annual Holiday Challenge Food Drive, including many schoolchildren, for the increase.

One participant, the Ventura County Coastal Assn. of Realtors, relies on students from schools in Camarillo, Oxnard and Port Hueneme to collect nonperishable items, said Marcia Charney, an Oxnard real estate broker.

Emilie Ritchen School, one of the Oxnard elementary schools collecting food, plans to line its hallways with canned goods that it will donate to Food Share, said Keith Tomes, the school’s administrative intern.

Food Share’s drive, which aims to collect 100,000 pounds of food, will last through Dec. 20. The group’s green-and-red metal barrels are at Vons supermarkets throughout the county.

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Times staff writer Matt Surman contributed to this report.

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FYI

Although the county’s food banks and pantries have sufficient food supplies, the following items are still needed.

* Care and Share: serves Simi Valley residents only. Needs rice, beans, pasta and canned meat. 1925 Royal Ave., Simi Valley 93065; 522-5676.

* Catholic Charities: has five service sites in the county. Needs canned fruits, juices, soups and peanut butter. 303 N. Ventura Ave., No. A, Ventura 93001; 643-4694.

* Community Assistance of Santa Paula: serves Santa Paula residents only. Needs pasta, tomato sauce, beans, rice and canned fruit. 133 N. Mill St., Santa Paula 93060; 525-8890.

* Food Share: The county’s regional food bank needs frozen turkeys, powdered milk, beans, rice, pasta, canned meats. 4156 N. South Bank Road, Oxnard 93030; 983-7100.

* Manna Conejo Valley Food Bank: serves Conejo Valley residents only. The organization has been offered a matching grant from Amgen if it can raise $2,500 from new contributors. It also needs canned tuna and canned fruit. 3020 Crescent Way, Thousand Oaks 91360; 497-4959.

* Many Mansions: provides groceries to the 75 most needy families living in its low-income housing. Needs frozen prepared food, fresh produce, juices and toiletries. 80 E. Hillcrest Drive, No. 219, Thousand Oaks 91360; 497-0344

* Seventh-day Adventist Community Services: serves Conejo Valley residents only. Needs desserts and fresh produce. 136 Academy Drive, Newbury Park 91320; 499-3727.