City is putting emphasis on the hungry

Laguna Beach on Saturday will kick off Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Month, which will feature fundraisers and opportunities to drop off food at schools and businesses.

The outreach, coordinated by the city’s Housing and Human Services Committee, includes the fifth World Hunger Bowl at Seven-Degrees on Thursday and the Friendship Shelter Gala at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel on Nov. 14.

Barbara McMurray, Friendship Shelter board member and marketing coordinator with the Laguna Food Pantry, organized a tour Oct. 22 of sites that provide services for the homeless and others in need.

Four of seven City Council candidates — Toni Iseman, Robert Zur Schmiede, Eli Grossman and Paul Merritt — joined the tour, which took them to the Friendship Shelter, which provides temporary housing for 32 adults at a time, the Alternative Sleeping Location, the city’s overnight emergency shelter, the Laguna Food Pantry and the Laguna Beach Community Clinic.

The pantry distributes more than 2,500 pounds of food each weekday, and the number of shoppers is expected to increase by 20% in the 2014-15 fiscal year, which begins Dec. 1, McMurray wrote in an email.

The clinic, a nonprofit primary healthcare facility, offers medical and dental care for low-income patients.

Opportunities abound for the public to participate in November’s outreach, from cooking a meal at the Friendship Shelter to donating socks and toiletries at the clinic and ASL.

Food bins for nonperishable items will be placed at all four Laguna Beach Unified School District campuses, as well as Boys & Girls Club sites in Laguna Canyon, Bluebird Park and Lang Park and real estate offices including Berkshire Hathaway and Coldwell Banker.

For more information, visit lagunahungryandhomeless.org.

—Bryce Alderton

Twitter: @AldertonBryce