Kitchens starved on supply

Scotty McLeish isn’t homeless.

The Korean War veteran has his own place at Bethel Towers in Costa Mesa, but his $1,100-a-month Social Security doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.

To illustrate his point to a reporter, he flips open his wallet and thumbs through the short stack.

“Thirteen dollars left,” he says, succinctly summing up his finances.

He has often gone to Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa for his midday meal. It saves money and the effort of cooking at home. But recently those trips are more necessity than preference.

Soup kitchens have usually served the most desperate in society: People without a home, many of whom are alcoholics, drug addicts or mentally ill.

But now organizations like Someone Cares are serving the working poor and retirees like McLeish.

Someone Cares daily serves up soup, potatoes, bread, cake, even egg rolls and tacos, all gourmet.

It opens at 1 p.m., and a line forms immediately. By 1:30 p.m., the soup kitchen reaches its 85-customer capacity, and a line forms. A Someone Cares worker remarked to a reporter on a recent visit that it was the first time they had gotten down to the last pot of soup since she started working.

All the volunteers have noticed an increase as the economy staggers. Construction workers are there. Families on welfare. One patron recently left in his cab.

“The same $100 doesn’t go as far as it used to,” says a grandmother who preferred to remain nameless. She helps to take care of her daughter who has three children, attends OCC and is on welfare. “I go to the gas station, and most of (the money) is gone.”

And it’s not just the soup kitchen that’s busier than normal lately.

For five years Sheree King, a volunteer with Mariner’s Church, has organized tutors for children, got them snacks or helped distribute food to families fallen on hard times in Costa Mesa. For years the volunteers could store their donated food in a two-door cabinet. Now they’re giving out 5,000 pounds of food a month.

“More and more people were coming and asking for food assistance,” King said. “It was not difficult to move. We did very minor advertising, yet over 100 families came.”

Rising demand has food pantries beefing up supplies, but maintaining them at such a level is a concern.

“A misconception is that most clients are homeless people, but really most clients are working poor who could barely get by on what they had and now have to pay more for gas, transportation in general,” says Bob Wright, a spokesman for America’s Second Harvest’s Orange County chapter, which provides food to various Orange County programs. “Having enough food to supply is a struggle. There is always more need than there is food.”

Last year, 36% of America’s Second Harvest clients served have one or more working adults in their families. The U.S. Conference of Mayors found in 2005 that 40% of adults requesting emergency food were employed. But with the economy struggling, workers who normally make the cut suddenly don’t.

King sees the figures in action. She is witness to those living at the Costa Mesa Motor Inn afflicted by the high cost of housing and gas.

They ask for food, diapers, everyday items that have been cut out of families’ budgets in exchange for shelter and transportation. King feels they can supply them with most of what they ask for, but resources are depleting.

King and her workers coordinate with other food banks, churches and agencies to pool collective resources. Some centers have shut down, putting more pressure on them to provide.

“An already unmet need was reduced,” King said.

The main Orange County food bank resource is Second Harvest, which depends on donations and private fundraising.

“Government money has almost become insignificant,” Wright said. “We appreciate it, but it doesn’t go as far as it used to and it doesn’t go up; it always stays the same.”

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.