A Good Cause -- A time to give

Mike Sciacca, Independent

Judy Secor knows this route all too well, but the road she repeatedly

takes continues to make a huge difference in the lives of many.

Secor, an ordained pastor at Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Goldenwest

area, Huntington Beach -- or, “Goldenwest Vineyard” for short --

spearheads a monthly outreach program that delivers food to the frail and

homebound elderly in the area.

To qualify for the program, a recipient must be older than 60 and

under the poverty level.

“Some of these people are destitute,” she said. “They don’t have cars,

so they can’t go anywhere or get out to shop for their own groceries.”

Secor and her volunteers deliver boxes of food, each containing dried

goods and a box of cheese, to the frail elderly. Her means of

transportation for the pick up and delivery of these boxes is a small

pick up truck that belongs to her son, Bruce. On average each month, she

collects 90 boxes from a local food bank and sets up delivery to 90

apartments.

In March, she will collect 94 boxes of food for the elderly.

Her garage is used as a warehouse for the church and currently three

pallets of food are stored there awaiting delivery.

“We’re doing this on a shoestring budget. We are always recruiting new

volunteers,” she said. “Anybody can do this, and we are always in need of

people with trucks to help out with the delivery.”

Secor and her late husband, Bill, founded the outreach program. They

started by delivering to the needy in their own neighborhood, and even

recruited elderly men from their neighborhood to help with the food

delivery.

Together, they formed the team, WADY -- which stands for, “We Ain’t

Dead Yet,” Secor said.

The WADY team still is the backbone of the monthly food delivery

ministry.

“If you can breath, then you can join this team and help someone in

some way,” she stated.

* MIKE SCIACCA is the education and sports reporter. He can be reached

at (714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.