Food Bank Given Rent as a Gift

Thanks to some holiday publicity, the Adopt-A-Neighbor food bank in Mission Viejo has been saved from eviction by last-minute help from the Midway City-based Shelter for the Homeless.

Adopt-A-Neighbor, founded by Lake Forest Mayor Kathryn McCullough--an ordained minister--has come close to being evicted several times for nonpayment of rent during its 31 years.

On Wednesday, Jim Miller, president and CEO of Shelter for the Homeless, told McCullough his organization would pay Adopt-A-Neighbor’s $3,000-a-month rent for a year. Adopt-A-Neighbor was due to be evicted from its Mission Viejo storage facility Sunday.

“Jim Miller told me we’d done good work for years and that he couldn’t stand around and allow us to close,” McCullough said. “He asked me what my rent was. I told him and he said, ‘I’ll pay it.’ . . . I was shocked.”

Said Miller: “I certainly didn’t want them to be homeless.”

It’s not the first time the grass-roots organization has benefited from a helping hand.

In 1996, Adopt-A-Neighbor raised more than $19,000 after its financial problems--stemming from overdue rent and other bills--were publicized. At the time, volunteers vowed to form a permanent fund-raising organization for the food bank.

The problem, McCullough said, is that the program has never been able to attract steady corporate or municipal support or a steady stream of big donations. Volunteer grant writers and other key staff, including fund-raisers, historically cycle in and out of the organization, she said.

While the organization has been effective in getting donations of canned goods and other foods, raising money to pay operational costs has been much more difficult, McCullough said.

“Orange County’s people are givers. But a lot of money goes to bigger organizations outside of the area,” McCullough said. “We as a community need to say, ‘How are we going to make [Adopt-A-Neighbor] stable?’ We would not be doing this for 31 years if there wasn’t a need.”

The food bank helps about 10,000 people a year, mostly in the Saddleback Valley, McCullough said.