Foothills Sentry February 2023

Page 9 Foothills Sentry February 2023 Come Visit Our Showroom 3024 East Chapman Avenue Orange, CA 92869 QUALITY BILLIARD PRODUCTS. EXPERT POOL TABLE SERVICE. (714) 620-4001 Call/Text dkbilliards.com david@pooltableguru.com Call for Store Hours: DK BILLIARDS SALES & SERVICE EXCESS POOL TABLE INVENTORY LET’S MAKE A DEAL! ACCEPTING BEST OFFERS When you enroll at St. Paul’s, you become a part of our family. Our loving and caring staff prepares our students to be future leaders, to think critically, show empathy, and to share Jesus’ love with others. APPLY NOW! 714-921 - 3188 | admi ss ions@spl sorange . org C H U R C H A N D S C H O O L NOW ENROLLING FOR 2023-2024! WWW . S P L S O R A N G E . O R G Tustin and Orange Democratic Clubs are now one big happy family! Introducing.... Meet fellow Dems from Tustin, Tustin Hills, Orange, Villa Park and more. Learn about local issues and help build a more progressive community. Meetings held the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7pm at St. Paul’s Church at 1221 Wass St. in Tustin. Join us on February 22 at 6pm for a pizza party followed by a general meeting about public schools at 7pm. RSVP to CentralOCDems@gmail.com More info available on the Central Orange County Democratic Club page on Facebook. A reinvented Mary’s Kitchen is back to serve the homeless By John Underwood For almost 30 years Mary’s Kitchen provided safety and ref- uge behind its gates at the end of an industrial cul-de-sac leased from the city of Orange. And for those three decades it was by the city’s own accounts a mutually beneficial partnership. Then in 2021 the City of Or- ange turned on it, calling the non- profit food pantry an “attractive nuisance” and a toll on its law enforcement services it could “no longer tolerate.” Despite the fact that a federal judge found no sta- tistical evidence of Mary’s Kitch- en as a societal or criminal burden on the city, local officials pressed forward with a hasty eviction of the homeless kitchen, which up to that point had been no financial burden to the city, the non-profit paying its own way. After a lengthy court battle, Mary’s Kitchen was evicted from its Struck Avenue enclave in the summer of 2022 so the city, it was eventually revealed, could make way for a truck logistics depot. That might have been the end of Mary’s Kitchen and its illustri- ous run as a last-chance resource for the unhoused and the hungry of Orange County. It certainly was presumed dead by its critics and many homeless advocates who seemed resigned to write Mary’s Kitchen off as the end of an era. But these voices heralding the demise of Mary’s Kitchen un- derestimated its formidable CEO and matriarch Gloria Suess. Since the passing of the kitch- en’s founder Mary McAnena, Gloria Suess has been the driving force and guiding light behind Mary’s vision of service to the homeless and hungry. Drawing on her pragmatic experience as a real estate broker, Gloria elevated Mary’s Kitchen into a connected network of partnerships in the surplus food world even before the City of Orange pulled the wel- come mat out from under her. Gloria never wavered in her mission, and soon gathered her supporters, volunteers, friends and like-minded partners who saw in this crippled giant of a re- source a connection to the hungry and unhoused of OC that was ir- replaceable. Floundering at first in false starts and broken prom- ises trying to relocate the kitchen, Suess realized there was a larger role the nonprofit could play. It could connect surplus food and services to the homeless by cre- ating a distribution and delivery network crisscrossing all of Or- ange County. Pulling together decades of old partnerships and creating new ones, Mary’s Kitchen is back with a warehouse in Anaheim. It is at the center of a growing surplus food distribution hub renamed Mary’s Kitchen and Pantry. Currently, Mary’s Kitchen and Pantry is delivering donated food products to over a dozen non- profits and faith-based congrega- tions at least three days a week, with hopes to expand distribution service soon to six days. The new Mary’s Kitchen and Pantry has also adapted its mis- sion to new forms of giving. At Calvary Chapel in Tustin, for example, where drive-through giving is the order of the day, Mary’s volunteers, including Gloria, arrive early and stay late to provide surplus food and help- ing hands for the monthly drive up-load up-and-drive-off event they call Pop-up Pantry. “All this couldn’t happen without the part- nership of Mary’s Kitchen,” says Tustin Calvary Chapel Associate Pastor Matt Doan, who oversees some 200 families matriculat- ing through the back parking lot. “We used to service maybe a few dozen families in cars. Gloria and her volunteers have allowed us to expand with the need.” Another food outreach program on Gloria’s to-do list is a return to serving the homeless directly. “I made that promise to the home- less on the streets and to Mary. I intend to keep it. At this moment we are where the Lord wants us, on His timeline, serving and de- livering to large numbers through other outreach groups. But my heart is always with those who are on the street struggling to help themselves.” To that end, Gloria and her staff will also begin serving families and individuals once again, not quite on a scale as before, but out of its warehouse by phone ap- pointment only, five days a week. Staff will take orders for food and an assortment of household items and arrange for pick up at the warehouse. Gloria’s personal commitment to the plight of the homeless has been recognized numerous times, three times just in the past year, including being named as one of the OC Register’s most influential people, and also honored in 2022 with a National Freedom Founda- tion Award for her humanitarian efforts. When asked how she dealt with praise and condemnation all at the same time, she said, “You just have to smile through it all ... and go with the good.” John Underwood is a journal- ist and documentary producer based in Orange County who has reported extensively on homeless issues. Links to his reporting can be found at losaltv.org . Mary’s Kitchen can be reached at (714) 633-0444. Mary's Kitchen volunteers celebrate the facility's new mission. Empty tables dominate the former Mary's Kitchen patio.