Holiday Fund: St. Anthony's feeds the hungry Holiday Fund: St. Anthony's feeds the hungry (December 07, 2005)

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

Among residents of the Peninsula are people who do without a kitchen and the heartwarming scents rising from the oven or stove top.

Life can be tough and unfair, but there is a midday refuge of a warm lunch six days a week in the Padua Dining Room at St. Anthony's Church in the North Fair Oaks neighborhood.

The dining room feeds about 575 people a day, says Max Torres, operations manager for the program. Many are children, and their numbers rise over school holidays, when federally funded lunches aren't available.

"The food is great. I couldn't ask for anything better than this place," says Christopher, 49, who is between jobs and lives with a friend in Redwood City. His kitchen is a hot plate, so he eats at St. Anthony's every other day. "It's a place that people can rely on," he says.

St. Anthony's also provides visitors with grocery bags of bread, fruit and vegetables to take home.

Bobby Black, 25, sleeps on a friend's couch in East Palo Alto and picks up minimum-wage work by delivering rental cars. The bags of food are "really helpful," he says. "That way, I don't show up empty-handed. You know what I mean? I'm not just crashing on the couch."

The dining room, staffed by volunteers, is open to all from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday year-round.

"Anybody who is hungry is welcome," says Mr. Torres.

St. Anthony's also gives out clothing, toiletry survival kits, and sleeping bags. A county public-health nurse visits once a week.

Dining room operations depend on donations, including bread and pastries from retail food outlets, staples from the Second Harvest Food Bank, fruit from residents' trees, and, significantly, cash donations.

"With a few dollars, you can go a long way," says Mr. Torres.

[bug] ** HOLIDAY FUND

Contributions to the Holiday Fund help St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room. For more information on the dinning room, call Max Torres at 365-9664.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.