Group Seeks to Aid 40,000 in Year-End Campaign

A coalition of more than 200 local churches launched an ambitious effort Tuesday night to provide free food, health care and job opportunities to more than 40,000 poor people in Los Angeles over several days.

We Care L.A. 99 unveiled the program at the Crenshaw Christian Center during a prayer rally and orientation for about 1,000 of the volunteers who will assist the poor at three Southland sites during the next three days.

Organizers say that the volunteers, expected to total about 5,000, will provide health care screening, job information, counseling, events for children and more than 1 million pounds of free groceries.

If the goal of helping 40,000 people is reached, We Care L.A. 99 will represent the largest single such outreach effort in county history, organizers say.

“Our No. 1 goal is to help the poor at a crucial moment in time,” said Lee de Leon, We Care director. “Ultimately, we hope those we reach will make permanent connections with churches that have services for them.”

The first event will be today in Belvedere Park at Cesar Chavez and Mednik avenues in East Los Angeles. The second will be Thursday in Ted Watkins Park at Central Avenue and 103rd Street in Watts.

On Friday, the last outreach effort will be staged in MacArthur Park at Alvarado Street and Wilshire Boulevard just west of downtown Los Angeles. All three events are scheduled from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Each program will begin with an orientation to inform people about available benefits and where to get them at the outreach sites. Organizers say that thousands of volunteers should be on hand every day to help the needy determine what benefits are most suitable for them.

“These will be very structured events so we can handle as many people as possible,” said Michael Carrington, a We Care L.A. coordinator. “An outreach program of this scale has never really been tried before.”

We Care L.A. 99 is a coalition of local churches and Convoy of Hope, a charitable organization based in Springfield, Mo., that has been coordinating large outreach programs for the poor since 1995.

The group includes Victory Outreach; Templo Calvario, described as one of the largest Latino churches in the United States; Church on the Way in Van Nuys; Crenshaw Christian Center in Los Angeles; the Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn.; World Vision; and the Asian Task Force, an umbrella organization for Asian congregations.

De Leon said the churches, along with local businesses and social service agencies, have provided all the volunteers and more than $100,000 worth of equipment for the event.

Convoy of Hope was founded five years ago by David, Hal and Steve Donaldson, brothers who became impoverished as youths after a car accident killed their father and crippled their mother.

Over the last five years, Convoy of Hope estimates, it has mobilized more than 60,000 volunteers and contributors who have either donated or distributed millions of dollars in benefits to more than 100,000 people across the United States.

Times staff writer Edgar Sandoval contributed to this story.