St. Anthony's fire

MENLO PARK -- The largest soup kitchen in the county won't open for another half hour, but at 10:30 a.m., dozens of hungry people have patiently wrapped around St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room.

Many are Mexican day laborers and their families, who walked or cycled over from North Fair Oaks. After polishing off a plate of "hot dog stew," buttered bread and slice of cake, Dolores Barragn and her 2-year-old nephew, Adrian, left with a bag of groceries to help stretch her husband's gardening wages.

"The food is good and the rent is too high, so we come and eat here, and it helps a little bit," she said, through a translator. "They give us bread and vegetables, and we get clothes once a month."

Those behind her included elderly shut-ins transported by the dining room mini-bus, and homeless people from the Maple Street Shelter in Redwood City.

"We don't refuse anybody," said Milka Holloway, a 25-year volunteer who deftly used her silver-topped cane to hop aside when head chef Juventino "Juve" Vargas rolled out steaming pans of carrots.

Lately, St. Anthony's has turned away volunteers instead, said Max Torres, operations manager. While the dining room desperately needs donations of food and money to put together 600 meals a day, six days a week, they already have more than 160 homemakers, retirees and students signed up to slice and serve.

Rejected Thanksgiving Day volunteers and others can start calling today for a shot at serving the 1,000 guests expected on Christmas Eve, he said.

History

Founded in 1974 by Brother Dominic Pareira, the dining room originally served free Sunday lunches to a few hundred elderly people and St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church parishioners. Within a few years, the schedule changed to accommodate people who needed food all week long, Torres said. After Pereira died in 1992, the nonprofit organization also added weekly visits from a nurse and a clothing distribution center.

In 2002, the dining room served about 120,000 meals. This year, including hundreds of extra meals sent each week to shelters and child-care centers, dining room treasurer Dick Cortopassi estimated the number will be close to 180,000.

But while the need has escalated, the funds have not. St. Anthony's cut back to nine paid employees from a high of 12, but has continued to feel the pinch of a sluggish economy and this year's disaster-related donor fatigue, Cortopassi said.

Last year's anticipated budget was $917,000, but the organization raised only $522,000, mainly due to a decline in estate bequests. This year's estimated budget is $764,000, with most expected to roll in during the holiday season.

The financial struggles have not gone unnoticed among the dining room's regular clients, though they are grateful the kitchen has remained open six days a week.

"This year, they've served hot dogs a lot because the budget fell," observed Jim Orenstein, an unemployed Redwood City pianist who has eaten at the dining room for three years. "They chop them up in different ways."

While Vargas finds creative ways to stew huge quantities of meat and vegetables every day, Torres and other volunteers drive the St. Anthony's truck to Peninsula supermarkets and bakeries in search of donated or discounted ingredients. Leftovers from bakeries, fishermen's catches and farmers' markets also punch up the menu, Torres added.

On Thanksgiving, Vargas and volunteers prepared 85 turkeys, 300 pounds of cranberry sauce, 500 pounds of mashed potatoes and stuffing, and 50 gallons of gravy -- enough to feed all

1,000 guests. They expect more for Christmas Eve lunch, which coincides this year with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District's annual toy giveaway in the dining room's parking lot.

Holiday helpings

Although the giveaway isn't supposed to begin until 8 a.m., hundreds of low-income children try to camp out on the cold pavement all night long. Volunteer Betty Steidel said she ends up giving some toys out at 4 a.m., in hopes the children will head somewhere warm to enjoy them.

"I hope we can get the kids over to eat afterwards. They just get so excited," she said, swinging her 1-year-old grandson Jacob on her hip through the dining room.

More information

St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room is at 3500 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park. Lunch is served 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call (650) 365-9664.

Staff writer Nicole Neroulias covers the South County and religion. She can be reached at (650) 306-2427 or nneroulias@sanmateocountytimes.com.

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