VOLUNTEERS SUPPLY MEALS FOR PASSOVER.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Staff Writer

In an alley behind a market under a light drizzle Sunday, volunteers packed and delivered boxes of food - wine, matzo and kosher chicken - so that needy Jewish seniors could celebrate one of the most important holidays of the year.

More than 18,000 pounds or more than 600 boxes of kosher food, prepared in accordance with Jewish dietary laws, were delivered to homes from Thousand Oaks to Santa Monica for Passover.

The eight-day holiday will begin at sundown Saturday and commemorates the ancient Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt.

``It feels good going to the homes of these people who are much older,'' said David Tuckman, 27, with the Jewish campus group Hillel at Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills. ``You get a smile from them, and it makes you feel good you are helping out.''

Tuckman, who oversaw about 20 student volunteers, helped pack perishables like eggs and chicken and was to take boxes to four homes later.

Nonperishables such as canned vegetables, macaroons, dry pasta, soap and tissue paper were packed Saturday by another army of volunteers from several Jewish groups. Each order was worth about $75 and weighed about 60 pounds.

Many of the foods eaten during the Passover Seder have religious meaning, including hard-boiled eggs representing life and rebirth, and matzo, the unleavened bread that the Jews made as they fled Egypt.

The nonprofit service organization Encino B'nai B'rith, which also operates a food bank in Chatsworth, coordinated the weekend event.

``All these people we deliver to are 70 to 100 years old,'' said Dave Kaye, food bank director for 25 years. ``They are all on Social Security income and fiscally unable to shop.''

Kaye said the elderly, whose names were submitted by community groups, often have to choose between eating and buying medication.

Twice a year during Hanukkah and Passover, special food deliveries are made to those in need.

``It's people helping people,'' said Mel Wolf of Encino B'nai B'rith, which during the last five years has raised more than $50,000 for the group.

Throughout the year, the group's food bank weekly feeds more than 6,000 people of all denominations and in 2000 gave out more than $5.5 million in food and necessities such as shoes and clothes.

``We have 26 churches with food banks that come to us,'' Kaye said. ``The need over the years have gotten greater because of people losing their jobs, things like that.''

Kaye expected the ongoing energy crisis ``will hit us like a ton of bricks.''

Sixteen-year-old Nathan Fein, who attends private Pacific Hills High School in West Hollywood, helped deliver food for Hanukkah last year and decided to help out Sunday for a good cause.

``There's a good feeling you did something right, helping these people,'' said Fein, a member of the B'nai B'rith Youth Group.

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Photo: Dave Kaye, chairman of Encino B'nai B'rith food bank, helps prepare Passover food baskets for needy seniors on Sunday.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer