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Costa Mesa soup kitchen has served it up for 25 years
OC Register
By DEEPA BHARATH
06/06/2011
COSTA MESA The aroma of lamb curry wafts from the back door of Someone
Cares Soup Kitchen on a recent afternoon.
Personal chef Jeff Peterson is slicing up the lamb and giving it a
savory Moroccan flavor, as he drizzles a sauce rich with beef stock,
plum jelly, fresh mint, sage and parsley over the meat.
"Every time I cook in here, it's like "Iron Chef" for me," he says with
a laugh. "You don't know what you're going to get. But I try to make the
best of what we get here."
Ultimately, there's only one goal, Peterson says.
"No one leaves hungry."
Humble beginnings
That has in essence been the motto for Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, which
on June 11 is celebrating its 25th anniversary of serving the community.
The soup kitchen has grown and evolved since founder Merle Hatleberg
started her humble operation serving 30 homeless people a day at Rea
Elementary School, says Shannon Santos, Hatleberg's granddaughter, who
now runs the soup kitchen.
Hatleberg, the wife of a wounded World War II veteran, single-handedly
raised her eight children.
Once her children were grown, Hatleberg turned her energies to volunteer
work with the Red Cross in Orange County. She also became the director
of TLC Senior Center, which at the time was located at Rea Elementary.
It was there that she saw a growing need. Using her own salary, she
started feeding homeless, unemployed or under-employed people on June
15, 1986 on her birthday.
"They really were a forgotten demographic in Orange County," Santos
said. "It soon became my grandmother's passion."
Hatleberg ran the soup kitchen out of the school for four years. After
that, her operation was nomadic as she moved from church to church
feeding the hungry.
In 1997 she was able to take over a building on 19th Street in Costa
Mesa that was formerly a Chinese restaurant owned by the Lee family,
which now owns Wahoo's. Four years ago, the group got the deed to the
building, Santos said.
"That was really a milestone for us," she said.
Feeding with a passion
Each day as many as 350 people get a hot lunch at Someone Cares. On a
recent afternoon at lunch time, guests lined the neatly arranged tables.
The kitchen welcomes a variety of people, not just the homeless, said
Santos. According to a survey the soup kitchen does each year, only 20
percent of their guests are homeless. About 35 percent are families in
need, and seniors make up at least 20 percent to 25 percent of their
guests, Santos says. With the senior center right across the street and
Bethel Towers senior living center next door, the soup kitchen is like
"social hour" for seniors.
None of the guests at the soup kitchen wished to have their last names
published for this story. But they said they are grateful for this
resource in their community.
Rita said she has been both a volunteer and a beneficiary for the last
14 years.
"This is like a family," she said. "We really care about each other."
Yves, another guest, said coming to the soup kitchen helps shave a
couple of hundred dollars off his food bill.
"I don't know what I'd do without this place," he said. "I have a place
to live and I have some income. But without this place, I would never be
able to save some money, if I have a bad day coming down the road."
Helping and being helped
There are still others like Joe Merzoian and his wife, Nancy, for whom
working at the soup kitchen has provided solace at a time of family
crisis.
Both Merzoian and his wife were laid off from their respective jobs over
the last few months.
"I was going crazy at home," said Merzoian, who used to work for a
packaging company in Irvine. "There were only so many times I could walk
the dog or watch TV."
His wife, who already volunteered at the soup kitchen, asked him to try
it out just for one day. He did and was completely hooked. He and his
wife are the soup kitchen's only full-time volunteers. They show up at
8:30 in the morning and don't leave before 5 p.m.
It took him back to the days when he worked as a chef and even back to
those days when he cooked with his grandma in the family's kitchen.
"We didn't understand each other since she spoke Armenian, but we cooked
together," he says.
Merzoian views this as an opportunity to brush up his cooking skills so
he can find a job in the restaurant industry again.
"But more than anything, I'm here for these people," he said. "I've been
lucky enough to have a roof over my head all my life and food at the
table. I really feel like I'm doing God's work here."
Looking ahead
Santos says the soup kitchen has not been without challenges. Two years
ago, they were in danger of closing and sent out the first "plea letter"
in their 23-year history.
"But the response was overwhelming," she said. "Even with the economic
climate, our freezers and pantries are full and we are so thankful."
Last year, the biggest donor was Trader Joe's, which donated $1.2
million worth of food. As for the future, Santos says she would like to
add vocational training programs to help people and families get back on
their feet. The soup kitchen already has a volunteer-run after school
homework help program every day.
Lorrie Sanchez, who has worked as a cook for 10 years at the soup
kitchen, says she got her energy and attitude from Hatelberg.
"She taught me never to judge anyone even if they came here in a
Mercedes with surfboards on the roof," she said. "Merle would tell me:
'You never know. He could be living in his car.' That's the spirit that
keeps this place going."
Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or [email protected]
OC Register
By DEEPA BHARATH
06/06/2011
COSTA MESA The aroma of lamb curry wafts from the back door of Someone
Cares Soup Kitchen on a recent afternoon.
Personal chef Jeff Peterson is slicing up the lamb and giving it a
savory Moroccan flavor, as he drizzles a sauce rich with beef stock,
plum jelly, fresh mint, sage and parsley over the meat.
"Every time I cook in here, it's like "Iron Chef" for me," he says with
a laugh. "You don't know what you're going to get. But I try to make the
best of what we get here."
Ultimately, there's only one goal, Peterson says.
"No one leaves hungry."
Humble beginnings
That has in essence been the motto for Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, which
on June 11 is celebrating its 25th anniversary of serving the community.
The soup kitchen has grown and evolved since founder Merle Hatleberg
started her humble operation serving 30 homeless people a day at Rea
Elementary School, says Shannon Santos, Hatleberg's granddaughter, who
now runs the soup kitchen.
Hatleberg, the wife of a wounded World War II veteran, single-handedly
raised her eight children.
Once her children were grown, Hatleberg turned her energies to volunteer
work with the Red Cross in Orange County. She also became the director
of TLC Senior Center, which at the time was located at Rea Elementary.
It was there that she saw a growing need. Using her own salary, she
started feeding homeless, unemployed or under-employed people on June
15, 1986 on her birthday.
"They really were a forgotten demographic in Orange County," Santos
said. "It soon became my grandmother's passion."
Hatleberg ran the soup kitchen out of the school for four years. After
that, her operation was nomadic as she moved from church to church
feeding the hungry.
In 1997 she was able to take over a building on 19th Street in Costa
Mesa that was formerly a Chinese restaurant owned by the Lee family,
which now owns Wahoo's. Four years ago, the group got the deed to the
building, Santos said.
"That was really a milestone for us," she said.
Feeding with a passion
Each day as many as 350 people get a hot lunch at Someone Cares. On a
recent afternoon at lunch time, guests lined the neatly arranged tables.
The kitchen welcomes a variety of people, not just the homeless, said
Santos. According to a survey the soup kitchen does each year, only 20
percent of their guests are homeless. About 35 percent are families in
need, and seniors make up at least 20 percent to 25 percent of their
guests, Santos says. With the senior center right across the street and
Bethel Towers senior living center next door, the soup kitchen is like
"social hour" for seniors.
None of the guests at the soup kitchen wished to have their last names
published for this story. But they said they are grateful for this
resource in their community.
Rita said she has been both a volunteer and a beneficiary for the last
14 years.
"This is like a family," she said. "We really care about each other."
Yves, another guest, said coming to the soup kitchen helps shave a
couple of hundred dollars off his food bill.
"I don't know what I'd do without this place," he said. "I have a place
to live and I have some income. But without this place, I would never be
able to save some money, if I have a bad day coming down the road."
Helping and being helped
There are still others like Joe Merzoian and his wife, Nancy, for whom
working at the soup kitchen has provided solace at a time of family
crisis.
Both Merzoian and his wife were laid off from their respective jobs over
the last few months.
"I was going crazy at home," said Merzoian, who used to work for a
packaging company in Irvine. "There were only so many times I could walk
the dog or watch TV."
His wife, who already volunteered at the soup kitchen, asked him to try
it out just for one day. He did and was completely hooked. He and his
wife are the soup kitchen's only full-time volunteers. They show up at
8:30 in the morning and don't leave before 5 p.m.
It took him back to the days when he worked as a chef and even back to
those days when he cooked with his grandma in the family's kitchen.
"We didn't understand each other since she spoke Armenian, but we cooked
together," he says.
Merzoian views this as an opportunity to brush up his cooking skills so
he can find a job in the restaurant industry again.
"But more than anything, I'm here for these people," he said. "I've been
lucky enough to have a roof over my head all my life and food at the
table. I really feel like I'm doing God's work here."
Looking ahead
Santos says the soup kitchen has not been without challenges. Two years
ago, they were in danger of closing and sent out the first "plea letter"
in their 23-year history.
"But the response was overwhelming," she said. "Even with the economic
climate, our freezers and pantries are full and we are so thankful."
Last year, the biggest donor was Trader Joe's, which donated $1.2
million worth of food. As for the future, Santos says she would like to
add vocational training programs to help people and families get back on
their feet. The soup kitchen already has a volunteer-run after school
homework help program every day.
Lorrie Sanchez, who has worked as a cook for 10 years at the soup
kitchen, says she got her energy and attitude from Hatelberg.
"She taught me never to judge anyone even if they came here in a
Mercedes with surfboards on the roof," she said. "Merle would tell me:
'You never know. He could be living in his car.' That's the spirit that
keeps this place going."
Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or [email protected]