Interfaith Food Center Executive Director Amy L. Catt sits behind cramped quarters on June 28, 2013 at the antiquated office at 14545 Leffingwell Road in Whittier. The 20-year-old program feeds about 1,200 families every week and is moving to spacious digs in Santa Fe Springs with a grand opening planned for Aug. 21.

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Yet it is moving to new, spacious digs

By Tim Traeger
Editor
411whittier.com
WHITTIER – Federal sequestration is taking food out of the mouths of the area’s neediest people. Literally.
Funding for the Interfaith Food Center on Leffingwell Road has been drastically cut, meaning the 250 families served daily by the center are in jeopardy of slipping off the food assistance grid.
“Because of sequestration, we are not getting any federal funding this year. Usually, we get around $40,000 in federal funding money from SEMA. This year they haven’t released anything because of sequestration, so we haven’t gotten any RFPs (request for proposals) to get the money,” lamented Amy L. Catt, the center’s executive director. “And this week is the end of our fiscal year. So we haven’t had funding for the last half of the fiscal year which means we’ve had to come up with money from other places. On top of the move. So on top of trying to get the money to do the move, we’ve also lost that funding, money strictly for food purchase. So we’ve had to take the funding that we’ve had for, say, general operating costs to keep the doors open and have funneled it into food because that’s our mission.
“We want to make sure that this group of vulnerable people are getting the nutritious food that they need. It’s been a tough one for us. The (Whittier Host) Lions Club is helping out a lot, but I still need something so I can open my doors.”
Catt, 53, said the center opened about 20 years ago when a coalition of churches came together to help feed the poor. Now the center is its own non-profit, non-denominational entity.
“So we’re not directly associated with any church or religion. We just kept the Interfaith name because it is people from every faith coming together,” Catt said. Husband Steve has a recruiting company. Son Robert volunteers at the center, so does daughter Christie.
Whittier as a rule is a generous, giving town.
“All the nonprofits in Whittier are also connected. They get to know each homeless person, their particular situation. One of their first referrals is to Ted (Knoll) at First Day. If they need more meals, they will be referred to Dottie at St. Mathias Episcopal Church,” Catt said.
“In the nonprofit world we all try and help each other out like with the Whole Child and their housing program. We all try and work together. We’re all helping the same people,” Catt said. The center has four paid employees. Everyone else is a volunteer. On a typical day, 20 to 30 volunteers man the stations. In the main warehouse, produce comes from L.A. Regional Food Center like carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, artichokes and the like. The staples are put into bags for distribution to clients, who come in the front door and check in. “If there’s a birthday, the client gets a cake, if we have it,” Catt said.
“These are Friday volunteers and these are Friday pickup people,” Catt said on June 28, 2013. “They’ve built a relationship among themselves.” Other food staples include eggs, milk, cheese, cereal, canned goods and more. There’s even a sack lunch program for the homeless.
“Our population is low-income families in Whittier and La Mirada. We just recently expanded into Santa Fe Springs with our move,” Catt said.
Families go through a registration process to verify they live in the area and fall within income guidelines. Basically for a household of one, the income can be no more than $1,438 a month, Catt said.
“Everybody falls below that.”
The good news? Interfaith is taking a spacious building at 1819 Burke St. in Santa Fe Springs. City Manager Thadeus McCormack has arranged for bus service, as has 4th District Supervisor Don Knabe. The center will grow from about 4,000 square feet to about 6,800 square feet through funding from the BCM Foundation, Parsons, the Ahmandson Foundation, the Green Foundation, the Geunther Foundation, the Rose Hills Foundation, Jim and Karen Shepard and a host of others.
There is a grand opening planned for Aug. 21.
“We’re having separation anxiety because we’re used to being on top of each other,” Catt said. “It’s a little scary. It’s really hard for me not to jump up and down when I see this place.”
For Program Director Veronica G. Hernandez, 36, the biggest benefit to running the center for the last eight years is its people.
“It’s making a difference. Food is so important. Every time it just brings joy to people,” Hernandez said.
That sentiment was echoed by volunteer Richard Harms, 87. “The best part is all the friends. One more thing, though. They appreciate you to death.” After 28 years working for the U.S. Postal Service, Harms said giving out yogurt, milk, juice, sausage, eggs and cheese is just part of the daily routine.
The battalion of mostly older volunteers collect slightly dated “close to code” foodstuffs from a plethora of area grocery stores, seven days a week. The center also collects from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. The USDA gives canned food that can go to anyone, whether they’re registered or not with the center.
Catt said the Great Recession has bumped the number of families helped on a weekly basis to 1,200.
“We’ve almost doubled the number we’ve been helping in the last four years,” she said.
For administrative assistant Nancy Diaz, a 10-year employee from Pico Rivera, the best part of the job is coordinating the annual kids’ summer camp.
“I would say helping the people. Seeing them get back on their feet. I compare them to my own life. It makes me a little more appreciative of what I have in my life.”
The center runs like a factory. A large, compassionate factory.
Touring the new center compared to the old one on Leffingwell brought smiles to Catt’s compassionate face.
She said in addition to daily food distribution, the center will also offer advice from the Intercommunity Counseling Center, there will be an area for purely homeless clients, a bathroom, a service area and an office for the warehouse manager.
“Isn’t this amazing?” Catt said surveying the 4,500-square-foot warehouse space at the new Burke Street location. “We will create a sorting and cleaning area to meet Department of Health guidelines. Pre-prep sink and food prep sink. We don’t prepare any food, but go through it and sort it.”
Construction on the interior warehouse will be done by general contractor Jeff Hutchison. “He recommended a few good Christians who are willing to help us out. He’s been wonderful,” Catt said.
In addition the Whittier Host Lions Club donated $25,000 to buy two walk-in refrigerators and a phone system.
The center is leasing the new building from Dan McColl, son of the trust owner.
“They’ve been really helpful on rent. They’ve given us a couple months’ free rent. They’re putting in the carpeting and the tile in the office space and helping us stripe the parking lot,” Catt said. “We will have a nice large break room for the volunteers to congregate. We will also use the space for various community events and the Intercommunity Counseling Center and the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice, who sends an attorney once a month for family law consultation and sessions with clients.”
Tim Traeger is former editor of the Whittier Daily News. Contact him at ttraeger@411whittier.com, phone 626-646-7352 or follow him on Twitter at @411whittier.com