Charity begins at home

Deirdre Newman

When Gaudencia Alejandre’s 8-year-old daughter, Daniella, passed

away, she didn’t have enough money to pay for all of the funeral and

burial services. So she turned to Share Our Selves, a Westside

charity that helps those in need.

Share Our Selves contributed $2,300 to the Alejandres, and the

family spent their life savings of about $3,500 to cover the rest of

it, executive director Karen McGlinn said.

“Obviously this was a tragic situation, but it points out a more

systemic issue that, in crisis, people need help to make good

choices,” McGlinn said.

People in crisis have been turning to Share Our Selves in its

Westside location since 1990. They also look to the Someone Cares

Soup Kitchen, another Westside charity, when they need a hot, hearty

meal.

Both these organizations attract a steady group of clients and a

lot of kudos in the community for the work they do. But they have

also been accused of dragging the Westside down by enticing the poor

and down-and-out to Costa Mesa.

Councilman Chris Steel -- who lost his bid for reelection last

week -- has been one of the most vocal critics, lauding the charities

for their generosity but recommending that they leave Costa Mesa and

stop attracting poor people and immigrants.

Similar charges have played out during the city’s past three

council elections, at least, with complaints being lodged that the

charities’ clientele creates a transient population that drives up

crime rates and drives down performance at the city’s schools.

The Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee also mentioned the

charities on the Westside in its final report. It recommended

imposing restrictions on organizations along the West 19th Street

corridor -- including nonprofits -- to lessen their adverse effects

on surrounding public and private property.

Officials with both organizations insist the Westside is where the

need is, and that’s why they attract so many people.

“Critics have a perception, not a reality,” McGlinn said.

“Whenever I hear them talk about it being a magnet, we’re a medical

and dental clinic providing needed services in a community struggling

to provide those services.”

Born out of a need

Share Our Selves evolved out of a group of about 150 members of

St. John the Baptist Church in the late 1960s. The group was studying

the Bishop’s Labor Day Statement on Justice of 1969 and decided to

act upon their desire to help others.

“There was a lot of debate but we really wanted to challenge the

systemic issues of poverty -- that was truly our guiding principle,”

McGlinn said.

After debating how exactly to do that, the board members of the

group -- six couples -- settled on just helping people with the

basics, such as food and health services, she said.

“People kept coming and saying, ‘Can you help us with this and

that?’ so we backed into the social-service branch of Share Our

Selves,” McGlinn said.

The nonprofit bounced around a few different locations before

settling at Rea Elementary School, which was not being used as a

school at the time. The organization provided a free medical and

dental clinic, along with other social services.

Also housed at that location was the Soup Kitchen, started in 1986

by Merle Hatleberg. She had a federally funded hot-meal program for

seniors, but would be swarmed by children knocking on her door asking

for food, she said. Seeing the need, she got the city’s permission to

open a soup kitchen and fed 30 people her first day.

While both charities continued to thrive, ultimately they were

evicted from the location. Both gave different reasons why they were

evicted.

McGlinn said neighbors blamed Share Our Selves for the large

influx of immigrants occurring at the time on the Westside. It was

asked to leave in 1989.

“It was really immigrants moving into the neighborhood -- not just

Latinos, but Vietnamese, Cambodian, Pacific Islanders,” McGlinn said.

“Refugees were changing how we see our community.”

The Soup Kitchen was evicted because the school district was

considering reopening the school, Hatleberg said.

It was time for both to take charge of their destinies by buying

their own buildings.

Moves to the west

For both, fate led them to the Westside. Share Our Selves

purchased its building on Superior Avenue in 1990, spending $1.4

million in donated funds.

“We made a strong commitment that we would build a safety net and

serve anyone -- the poor, the vulnerable, those in need,” McGlinn

said. “We never discriminated against anyone.”

And even though they are on the Westside, they benefit the entire

community with their medical clinic, McGlinn said.

“We protect the community because a lot of people who come here

are your service workers,” McGlinn said. “You want to make sure

someone in your kitchen doesn’t have tuberculosis or hepatitis.”

The nonprofit serves about 100,000 clients a year, said Karen

Harrington, director of development. It has a free, full-service

medical and dental clinic for those without insurance. Serving both

clinics are about 40 doctors and 140 staff volunteers. Some of the

doctors also see clients at their own offices.

While residents come from all around the county for most of the

services, about half of those who use the medical clinic are from

Costa Mesa, Harrington added.

The Soup Kitchen’s journey to the Westside wasn’t as smooth. First

it moved to the United Methodist Church on West 19th Street. But after three months there, a new pastor came in and served the

organization with a 30-day eviction notice, Hatleberg said. It ended

up buying an old Chinese food restaurant on West 19th Street in 1997.

“This is my feeling -- there was a need and I needed to find a

place, because I just can’t see people hungry,” Hatleberg said.

The kitchen mostly serves Costa Mesa residents, Hatleberg added.

In 2003, the Soup Kitchen did a survey of its clients and found that

51% were white and 33% were Latino. The survey also showed that most

people came for a hot meal because they were out of work.

Elissa Hunter, 42, who is homeless and pregnant, said the Soup

Kitchen means the world to her.

“It’s a blessing to have this place here,” she said.

For Share Our Selves, about 70% of the clients using its general

services are white. About 70% of those using the medical program are

Latino and about 60% of people who use the emergency services are

also Latino, Harrington said. Mostly families use the nonprofit

agency, Harrington added.

Suffering criticism

With all the help these two agencies provide, they have been a

lightning rod for criticism from those who blame them for the ills of

the Westside. Throughout his council term and even before that, Steel

referred to them as “magnets,” saying they attract people who hurt

the city. Steel was a volunteer for Share Our Selves in 1976 but

believes the Westside would be better off without it.

“That charity is a major problem for why the Westside has an image

problem,” Steel said. “They’re doing what everyone should be doing in

the moral, scriptural sense, but it’s incompatible with good schools,

low crime and [high] property values because of the conditions that

resulted from them being here.”

The soup kitchen has a noble goal but mainly attracts the

homeless, Steel said.

One of the recommendations of the Westside Revitalization

Oversight Committee’s final report is to require existing and new

businesses and nonprofits along the West 19th Street corridor to

apply for use permits so they are accountable for the actions of

their clients, committee chairman Ralph Ronquillo said. The goal of

the permits would be to lessen the negative effects on surrounding

public and private property.

Hatleberg said her clients are out of the area by 4 p.m. during

the week and therefore can’t be a nuisance.

“You can come here at 4:15 p.m. and not see a soul in the area,”

she said. “I can’t see what the problem is.”

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (714)

966-4623 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.