THE SERGEANT AT ALMS; DEVONSHIRE DIVISION OFFICER ORGANIZES ANTI-HUNGER DRIVE.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

Dan Mastro is still haunted by wartime memories of desperate Vietnamese families scrounging through the Navy's trash for food and making pillows out of milk cartons on the piers of Da Nang.

``They'd take stuff that would make you sick and that would be a gourmet meal for numerous families,'' he recalled. ``That moved me then. It was a terrible thing, and it gave me, as a young guy at 18, a new attitude about life itself.''

Now the 46-year-old can do something about it.

An assistant watch commander in the LAPD's Devonshire Division, Sgt. Mastro spends much of his free time finding ways to combat hunger.

When McDonald's offered Teenie Beanie Babies with children's meals, he called on the burger seller to donate food or money to a food bank when someone wanted just the toy and not the meal.

Next, he organized a food drive at the LAPD's West Valley Division that raised thousands of pounds for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

And now, again drawing on his Vietnam War memories of hunger and poverty as inspiration, Mastro is organizing a Halloween food drive dubbed Scare Away Hunger.

The Pacoima native's enthusiasm is so infectious that he has drawn support from the Fire and Parks and Recreation departments, the FBI, and the Los Angeles County Probation Department. Several local civic groups, City Council members Hal Bernson and Laura Chick, and others have signed on as well.

``For a three-hour event, it takes months of preparation, but it's going to be an awesome venture,'' said Mastro, who is now meeting weekly with his 10-member organizing committee.

Feeding kids

FBI officials hope to learn from this year's Halloween food drive so they can stage their own next year out of their Los Angeles field office.

``It's of tremendous value because you cannot have kids out going door-to-door these days, especially young ones,'' said Diane Gonzalez, a supervisor in the FBI's Los Angeles field office. ``And we want to make them aware that law enforcement agencies are there to help, not just arrest and nab people.''

Ultimately, Mastro would like to inspire other law enforcement and social service agencies across the nation to follow their lead and team up to combat hunger while building trust with the public.

``I really think it will go nationwide because the FBI is involved,'' said Walter Pollock, a member of the Woodland Hills Optimists and a key organizer in the Scare Away Hunger event. ``It wouldn't have started if it wasn't for Dan Mastro. He's the pivot.''

`A dynamo'

Mastro's supervisor, Lt. Ed Wilson, said the food drive is but one example of the sergeant's zeal.

``He's a dynamo, the fuel in the tank of a high-speed engine,'' Wilson said. ``It's like a 24-hour marathon, just go, go, go.''

As envisioned, the Halloween event will gather thousands of pounds of food for the food bank by getting kids age 12 and younger to donate canned goods in exchange for candy, coloring books and other treats.

Similar Halloween food drives are being planned by other LAPD divisions across the city.

``I think Dan Mastro has come up with something that is great fun, totally safe, helps people who are less fortunate and teaches our young people about sharing their good fortune with those people in need,'' said Chick, who heads the council's public safety committee.

It will also help dispel mistrust toward police.

``The only time people interact with police is when they're a victim of crime, are getting a ticket or are making a report,'' said Devonshire Division Sgt. David Porras, who recently volunteered to help Mastro with the food drive. ``There are some kids who have no idea of the positive side of police work.''

Childhood lessons

In many ways, Mastro's concern about hunger goes back to his youth, when his father, a Navy veteran of World War II, would berate him with a familiar adage when he did not clear his dinner plate.

``You realize people are starving overseas,'' Mastro recalled his father saying. ``You were provided with this; don't throw away food.''

The meaning of those words came into sharp focus about three months ago for Mastro when his 24-year-old daughter told him of seeing people - seized by the Beanie Baby craze - tossing out McDonald's Happy Meals by the dozen simply to get the bean bag toy.

Mastro called on McDonald's officials to find ways to avoid the waste, including making donations to food banks when people did not want the meals.

Not easily deterred

Sue Mullins, senior marketing manager of McDonald's Los Angeles Regional Office, said the corporation never wants its food to be wasted. She said the Teenie Beanie promotion did not need to be changed because customers could buy the toy separately, with as little as a drink purchase.

Faced with a defeat, Mastro wasn't about to end his crusade against hunger.

Someone jokingly asked him, ``Well, what are you doing about it?''

``Nothing,'' Mastro conceded at first. ``So I said, we're doing a food drive campaign. That's what we'll do.''

Then assigned to the West Valley Division, Mastro ran a seven-day food drive at the station, which netted 30,000 pounds of food and nearly $3,000 for the regional food bank.

During that drive, regional food bank Executive Director Doris Bloch told him of her idea for a Halloween-themed food drive.

Mastro ran with the concept, she said.

``He's a dynamite guy who puts things together and does lots of good stuff,'' Bloch said. ``We just can't wait to see how many wonders it works.''

Last year, the food bank delivered 27 million pounds of food to 750 charities, benefiting some 2.3 million people living in poverty in Los Angeles County, she said.

This year, that figure is expected to rise well above 30 million pounds of food, thanks in part to the efforts of Mastro and other LAPD officials, she said.

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Photo

PHOTO LAPD Sgt. Dan Mastro talks with corporate and government representatives about his food drive.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News