Food Pantry to Use Temporary Site

Ruben Castro hopes to set up a temporary site within a week for the Moorpark Pantry, which was gutted by fire more than two weeks ago.

“I still don’t believe it,” Castro said of the May 29 blaze that raged out of control, ruining more than 12,000 cans of food, computers, used clothing, furniture and years of paperwork.

“You’ve got to declare it all bad. All destroyed. All burned,” said Castro, the Catholic Charities program’s senior caseworker.

But a communitywide effort is helping to reopen the charity’s doors to Moorpark’s needy.

Since the fire, Castro has been trying to prepare temporary quarters donated by Holy Cross Catholic Church at its old chapel at 791 Magnolia St.

Local schools and organizations have already held fund-raisers to help replenish food supplies, he said.

“It’s coming together,” said Margaret Figueroa, a secretary at Holy Cross. “It looks like they’ve got donated file cabinets, desks, chairs. They were preparing food baskets. It looks like they needed the entire space.”

Rather than rebuilding the pantry, said Diane Martell, regional director for Catholic Charities, she hopes someone will donate a 4,000-square-foot space for a new operation near downtown Moorpark.

Martell said the fire-damaged site, at 77 1st St., is in a residential area, meaning it technically isn’t suited to the purposes of Catholic Charities. “The city was very nice and looked the other way with us being there. But they can’t go on living there,” Martell said.

One city official said Catholic Charities has given a “stellar performance” in helping out Moorpark’s less fortunate.

The Moorpark food pantry has operated for more than 25 years under the umbrella of Catholic Charities of Los Angeles Inc., providing food, clothes, and assistance with mortgages and rent for 500 to 700 families each month. Most of those are working families with financial difficulties, Castro said.