Boxes of holiday cheer

Jenny Marder

Stasie Ryan gets chills just talking about it. At 21, she was

pregnant and stranded by her son’s father with little money and

barely enough food or supplies to get by. If it wasn’t for the

volunteers at St. Bonaventure Church, she doesn’t know how she would

have made it through her son’s first year.

“They gave me food and diapers for the first full year of Gavin’s

life,” Ryan said. “At six months pregnant, I was debating on giving

him up for adoption, and they convinced me not to. They threw me a

huge baby shower. They got me anything and everything I needed to

start my life with a baby -- a stroller, a changing table, diapers,

formulas and tons of clothes and toys.”

Now, eight years later, Ryan, who has since gone back to school,

become a legal secretary and is supporting herself and her son, has

returned to the church to help other families in need. For 27 years

now, St. Bonaventure Church in Huntington Beach has been amassing

forces to help struggling families pull through the holidays.

Nearly 2,000 people will have enough food to make it through the

Thanksgiving holiday, thanks to countless volunteer hours and money

and supplies donated by members of the church and the community. Of

the thousands who apply, church members carefully go through the

applications and choose the neediest families to help.

Gerry Saitta, director of Helping Other People Every Day, the

church’s community outreach program, said she was delighted by the

number of new volunteers that showed up this year.

“You get more out of this than you actually give into this,”

Saitta said. “We’re ready for the holidays now.”

Most of the food goes to families in Huntington Beach’s Oak View

neighborhood, which is largely made up of low-income Latino

residents, many of whom live below the poverty line.

“Who could believe that in the city of Huntington Beach, Gerry has

a list of 1,000 families to feed,” Huntington Beach resident and

volunteer Gary Fisher said. “It’s hard for me to believe that there

would be that many people in Huntington Beach that don’t have

anything to eat.”

Packing food for the Thanksgiving drive began more than a week

ago. After five days of steady work, 500 boxes overflowed with food,

and just as many turkeys were ready to be picked up. Lines began to

form more than an hour before the doors opened at 8 a.m. Monday

morning.

Every family went home Monday with a turkey, fresh fruit, powdered

milk, pasta, eggs, butter and a variety of canned fruit and

vegetables. Boxes were also stuffed with apple juice, graham

crackers, cookies and candy. Each box was decorated with Thanksgiving

messages hand-colored by children from neighborhood schools.

The government donates roughly $18,000 worth of food. The rest is

provided by parishioners and community members.

The number of families that the church is able feed each year is

dependent on the number of turkeys donated, Saitta said.

Every year, Fisher donates more than 100 turkeys. This year, it

cost him $2,000 to donate 150 turkeys, but he shrugs it off as if

it’s nothing.

“I’m just the guy who helps the other people,” Fisher said with a

modest grin.

Jerry Barry, who has been involved in the church drives for 10

years, speaks with pride about the crowd of volunteers that come out

to help and the work that they do. It’s not uncommon for people such

as Ryan, who have sought help in the past, to return later in life as

volunteers, he said.

“These people come back when they’ve gotten back on top, and they

give back,” Barry said.It was one of few quiet moments at the church

on Monday. All weekend, people scrambled back and forth carrying

overstuffed boxes or handling wagonloads of turkey and bins of

potatoes. Food was trucked in and out all day Monday, to accommodate

the steady flow of families.

In the backroom, Ryan was carefully drawing closed eyes and red

open mouths onto pasta angels. The tiny angels looked like they were

singing.

In addition to helping out with the Thanksgiving drive, Ryan has

been charged with decorating 1,000 of these angels for the upcoming

Christmas Drive, when the church will feed thousands of families and

provide about 5,000 toys.

Volunteerism has become a staple in Ryan’s life. She helps at the

church whenever she can, and has become St. Bonaventure Church’s

token artist. And Saitta has become her son’s godmother.

This year, the children at College View Elementary were asked to

choose the thing that they are most thankful for and announce it at a

Thanksgiving program.

When Ryan heard her son’s answer, it made her cry.

“I’m thankful for my mom,” he said.

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at jenny.marder@latimes.com.