At MEND, needy 'shop' for food and clothing

By Francisco Vara-Orta

Oct. 15, 2007 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Maria Cornejo felt shame looking at the empty space under the Christmas tree last year.

“I cried myself to sleep on Christmas Eve,” Cornejo said, recalling what she described as one of the worst moments of her life. She didn’t want to let down her three children: a son, 5, and two daughters, 9 and 17.

Cornejo, 37, had lost her job at a dentist’s office and had separated from her husband. She eventually landed on welfare and soon after was forced to give up her home.

Then in May, a neighbor next door to her Arleta apartment told Cornejo about Meet Each Need with Dignity, or MEND, a Pacoima nonprofit that provides food, clothing and medical services to area residents who live below the federal poverty level. Cornejo now goes once a month to get clothing and a box of food.

“Everyone here treats me like an equal when I come in to pick up clothes and food,” Cornejo said. “It’s taking a lot of weight off my shoulders.”

MEND has grown from operating out of a couple’s Mission Hills garage in 1971 to an $8.8-million, 40,000-square-foot multiuse center opened in March at 10641 San Fernando Road in Pacoima.

“It’s a dream come true to see how it’s grown,” said Ed Rose, who with his wife, Carolyn, spearheaded the creation of MEND with 17 other people, initially using their two-car garage to store and distribute goods for the poor. The couple, now retired, visit the MEND center almost daily.

“This cause is in our blood,” Carolyn Rose said. “The need is still there, as it was when we started.”

The organization, supported by nonprofit foundations as well as individual and business donations, serves more than 40,000 people a month in the northeastern San Fernando Valley communities of Pacoima, Arleta, San Fernando, Lake View Terrace, Sylmar, North Hills and Mission Hills, said Marianne Haver Hill, executive director of MEND.

One of the largest food banks in Los Angeles, MEND last year gave away $4.6 million worth of donated food, $450,000 worth of clothing and $700,000 in medical services.

To become eligible, applicants must bring a photo ID, proof of current address, birth certificates for their children and a statement of income.

If a family qualifies, MEND allows five items of clothing per family member and one box of food each month. All recipients must be uninsured and low-income, Hill said.

The new center’s first floor looks like a contemporary indoor mall with colorful storefront facades for food and clothing distribution. Instead of having clothes in boxes or bags, the clothing distribution center displays items in a boutique where the families can “shop.”

“It makes you feel like it’s not just a handout, but you have some control again over your life,” Cornejo said. “And the clothes are so clean and in good condition.”

MEND’s revamped medical clinic officially opened this month, expanding from 1,500 square feet at the previous site to 10,000 square feet on the new building’s second floor. The clinic, run primarily by volunteer medical personnel, including physicians and mental health professionals, treated 3,253 people last year. Patients can get tested for diabetes, high blood pressure, vision problems and mental disorders, among other services.

Hill said MEND has an annual operational budget of about $1.5 million and receives no government funding. With a staff of 19 people, the organization relies heavily on its volunteers, about 2,100 in 2006.

MEND received $10,000 from the Times Holiday Campaign this year. Hill said the money would be used to support the food distribution program.

In addition to financial donations, Hill said MEND needs more medical personnel, such as dentists, optometrists and pharmacists, to keep its clinic open regularly.

For example, with just one dentist on duty, only 10 patients can be admitted a day, resulting in a growing waiting list of hundreds.

On a typical morning, the building bustles with families and volunteers shuffling around the clothing store and the walk-up window where boxes of donated fresh produce and canned goods are handed out.

Distribution days, held at least three times a week from 9 a.m. to noon, usually draw a line of families wrapping around the front of the building, awaiting its opening.

Client intake manager Maria Salmeron, 24, has worked at MEND full-time for a year.

“I grew up here in San Fernando and was oblivious to how many people need food and clothes, right in my backyard,” Salmeron said.

The annual Holiday Campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match every dollar raised at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax deductible. For more information, call (213) 237-5771. To make credit-card donations, visit www.latimes.com/holiday campaign. To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash. Unless requested otherwise, gifts of $50 or more are acknowledged in The Times.

francisco.varaorta@ latimes.com

______________________________________________________________

Yes, I want to help

Enclosed is my gift of $_________ to help children in need.

__________________________________________________

Last Name, First Name

__________________________________________________

Address

__________________________________________________

City, ZIP

Please list my gift as follows:

..................................................................