FEEDING A NEED : FOOD BANK SERVES UP HOPE IN VALLEY.Byline: Jeanne Mariani-Belding Daily News Staff Writer With her 5-month-old son sitting patiently in his stroller, Emeliani Vidana struggled to find a way to tote her box full of free food back to her Pacoima home. This is the second time she has had to count on the Fountain of Hope's food distribution program for help in a month, with her husband unable to find enough odd jobs odd jobs npl → chapuzas fpl odd jobs npl → petits travaux divers odd jobs odd npl → to make ends meet, she said. ``This really helps me with fruits and vegetables,'' Vidana said, looking through the box filled with fresh bagged salads, melons, nectarines, some salsa and frozen potatoes. ``It's such a big help. It helps us survive,'' she said, as she left the parking lot at Christ Memorial Church in Pacoima, with her son Julio sharing his stroller with the family's groceries. Vidana is among the hundreds of San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. families that turn weekly to Fountain of Hope for help, the program's creators said. The new food bank, which is based at the Pacoima church and also operates outreach food programs in other Valley communities, was formed last month by three Valley religious leaders: the Rev. Andrae Crouch of Christ Memorial Church; Martin Potratz, a pastor at WellSpring well·spring n. 1. The source of a stream or spring. 2. A source: a wellspring of ideas. wellspring Noun Christian Fellowship, a Foursquare church in Granada Hills; and Charles Cameron Charles Cameron may refer to:
``We get thousands of pounds of potatoes and carrots, thousands of loaves loaves n. Plural of loaf1. loaves Noun the plural of loaf1 loaves loaf of bread, loads of fresh fruits - it's just unbelievable,'' said a raspy-voiced Crouch, an eight-time Grammy Award-winning gospel singer who took over the pulpit pulpit, in churches, elevated platform with low enclosing sides, used for preaching the sermon. In the earliest churches the episcopal throne served this purpose. at the Pacoima Church last year. ``It's a dream to me,'' Crouch said of the new program. ``Churches have not done enough for the people. We're there when they die, but we don't do enough for their physical needs. I want them to know that it's God who is feeding them - God provides,'' he said. Fountain of Hope, which filed papers last month to obtain its nonprofit status, focuses on providing lots of fresh fruits and vegetables to enhance nutrition among the poor who typically have diets high in starch starch, white, odorless, tasteless, carbohydrate powder. It plays a vital role in the biochemistry of both plants and animals and has important commercial uses. and fat, said Cameron, who helps round up the weekly food supply for Fountain of Hope. The organization gets the bulk of its food supply from manufacturers and wholesalers who donate their overages and edible discards, and the three pastors are often out beating the bushes to get as much donated food as they can. ``It's not just about moving food, it's about moving a well-balanced diet. We'll work a little harder and stay open a little longer to do that,'' said Cameron. ``If people have a more balanced diet balanced diet n. A diet that furnishes in proper proportions all of the nutrients necessary for adequate nutrition. balanced diet , if they get more fresh fruits and vegetables, for example, it reduces stress, violence, and improves the well-being of the family.'' Fountain of Hope distributes about 80,000 pounds of food a month, helping about 500 families weekly and bolstering food programs at half a dozen Valley churches, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the organization's founders. Crouch, Potratz and Cameron have lofty goals for the new food bank. They plan to develop Fountain of Hope's distribution to 700,000 pounds of food monthly - enough to provide 5,000 Valley families with weekly doses of groceries and to enhance food programs at up to 100 Valley churches, organizers said. ``I would like to wipe out hunger in the San Fernando Valley,'' Crouch said. Cameron chimes in: ``Our vision is that we will begin here and that we will be able to deliver this program to every major city in the nation,'' he said. ``We need a minimum of 10,000 square feet of warehouse space, and we're in the process right now of seeking government space at nominal cost. We're exploring everything.'' In addition to its food distribution program on Thursdays at Christ Memorial Church, the Fountain of Hope also delivers food directly into poverty-stricken neighborhoods in North Hills and Sylmar. Each Friday, a Fountain of Hope food truck makes a pit stop on Langdon Avenue just south of Roscoe Boulevard, handing out food to about 70 families there, Potratz said. Fountain of Hope also takes weekly doses of food to Lumark Trailer Park in Sylmar. ``I find that going to the streets is a lot more effective because people who need food can't necessarily get to churches,'' said Potratz, who operates the outreach programs. ``A lot of people won't come to a church for help because of their pride. But if you bring the food to them, those that really need it are more likely to come forward,'' he said. Unlike many pantries in the Valley that serve people living in their immediate area, the nondenominational non·de·nom·i·na·tion·al adj. Not restricted to or associated with a religious denomination. Adj. 1. nondenominational - not restricted to a particular religious denomination; "a nondenominational church" Fountain of Hope welcomes people from all across the Valley and even has provided food to churches as far away as South Los Angeles South Los Angeles is the official name for a large geographic and cultural area lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central Los Angeles, and is still sometimes called South Central. . With hunger and poverty on the rise, officials from other Valley food pantries said new resources like Fountain of Hope are encouraging and vital. ``Hunger in the Valley is a growing problem,'' said Ileene Parker, chairwoman of the San Fernando Valley Interfaith in·ter·faith adj. Of, relating to, or involving persons of different religious faiths: an interfaith marriage; an interfaith forum. Council's Food Pantry Coalition, which comprises 18 food pantries operated by a wide variety of Valley churches and temples. ``There are a lot of changes in government and nonprofit agencies' programs, and the cost of food has increased. Things will get much more difficult,'' said Parker. ``It's a bold move to open a new pantry like this. They are living their spirit and we wish them all the success. This is faith in action.'' According to statistics obtained through the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Interfaith Hunger Coalition, 11.8 percent, or 698,000 of California's children under the age of 12 suffer from hunger. More than 37 percent of California's children under 12, or 2.2 million, are either hungry or are at risk of hunger, statistics show. But those numbers don't dissuade TO DISSUADE, crim. law. To induce a person not to do an act. 2. To dissuade a witness from giving evidence against a person indicted, is an indictable offence at common law. Hawk. B. 1, c. 2 1, s. 1 5. Fountain of Hope's founders. ``It's one thing to see a bad situation, but it's worse not to do anything about it. We see the need and we're going to feed it,'' Crouch said. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1--Color) Emeliani Vidana loads groceries into h er son's stroller at the Fountain of Hope pantry in Pacoima. (2) Rozetta Loper lope intr.v. loped, lop·ing, lopes To run or ride with a steady, easy gait. n. A steady, easy gait. [Middle English lopen, to leap, from Old Norse , left, helps Niya Green sort lettuce at the Fountain of Hope food bank. Michael Owen
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