Indigents Orange County

With her Isuzu Amigo loaded with bags of donated food and clothing, the Rev. Lisa R. Golden headed through the valley of red-tiled roofs and neatly clipped lawns to the impoverished canyon shantytown of Porterville. While most of the residents of Porterville have been evicted in recent weeks by landowner Sam Porter, those remaining were grateful to see Golden and her fellow church member Fernando Pedraza.

The diners gather in the shuttered Chinese restaurant refashioned into a soup kitchen for a down-home American meal: ham, vegetables, tomato soup and cupcakes smothered in electric-pink frosting. "I couldn't eat like this on my SSI," Richard Meredith, 48, said of his government benefits. "A lot of people use this soup kitchen, a lot more than general society expects."

Walking through a hallway at the Orange County Rescue Mission, 11-year-old Connie Chilton contrasted this world with the affluent neighborhoods where she and her classmates live. "It's very real," she said solemnly. "Where we live doesn't seem real compared to this. We don't have the problems they have here." Connie was among four classrooms of fifth- and sixth-grade students from Santiago Hills Elementary School in Irvine who toured the rescue mission Friday morning.

The sale of American-donated used clothing generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for private dealers as well as large nonprofits. So what's actually left for charity? In fact, little trickles down to the beneficiaries. Goodwill Industries of Orange County, for example, reported $8.8 million in thrift store revenue in 1995. Finance director Arthur Mattson said there was a $1.3-million profit, but he did not know how much of that actually went to programs.

Danene Dugger was holding her own before the Orange County bankruptcy. While benefiting from the county's safety net of social programs, the mother of two young sons was on the verge of becoming financially independent again through the employment counseling of a grass-roots group.

Juana Dominguez's three children couldn't wait until Sunday before tearing open the cardboard box of Easter food. Standing outside the Orange County Rescue Mission in Santa Ana on Friday, the children peeled back the container's flaps to inspect its contents of ham, mashed potatoes, vegetables and a loaf of bread. "It is going to be a happy Easter," Dominguez said in Spanish. "But it is never enough."

Imelda Ventura, 11, said she appreciated the massive party held this week for low-income families and was especially grateful that she would receive a toy by night's end. "I like getting toys and giving them to someone else," she said, adding her thanks for the groups that organized the event because "they help the poor people."

Televised images of starving and destitute children in Somalia must not blind Orange County residents to the plight of malnourished and impoverished children here, local UNICEF officials and social workers said Thursday. "Last month, 27,000 people came to Costa Mesa, right next to Newport Beach, to get a bag of beans or rice or powdered milk or peanut butter, if we were lucky enough to have it at the time," said Jean Forbath, founder of the Costa Mesa-based Share Our Selves.

Myldred Jones is an 83-year-old who, having lived through the Depression, knows what it's like to have boiled potatoes for dinner night after night. During World War II, she worked in the Navy's welfare department, and hungry families were not an uncommon sight. Even with that experience, she was unprepared for "the poverty in the streets" in the '90s that she has seen. "There's so much poverty, it's heartbreaking," Jones said in an interview.

Most people know that college students eat a lot. What Jamey Flynn knows is that some of them don't have enough to eat. Flynn is the coordinator for CareBank, a student-run emergency aid service at Fullerton College. Students often come to her desk at the Associated Students office, looking to get a little help with food or rent, she said. Most of those in need are older, returning students--many times with families.

Years of toil have broken many a farm worker like Genaro Saucedo, whose body looks older than its 78 years. A field hand since 1954, Saucedo walks in a crouch. His eyes sag. Too weary to work the fields, he now earns his keep by cleaning bathrooms in the labor camp where he lives. "I am dying," he sighs. Under an ambitious program unfolding along Orange County's rural edges, the sick and the weary among the farm workers, people like Genaro Saucedo, are receiving some sorely needed care.

Nearly 800 needy parents in the county are receiving food, blankets, clothes and toys to provide a special Christmas for their children this year. Four charity groups are organizing the annual giveaway, which began this week. The families, chosen by school officials, have been invited to visit the Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Service distribution center at Maple School in Fullerton to pick up the goods.

Danene Dugger was holding her own before the Orange County bankruptcy. While benefiting from the county's safety net of social programs, the mother of two young sons was on the verge of becoming financially independent again through the employment counseling of a grass-roots group.

Thursday was an exciting day for 5-year-old Ashley Barthalomy. With a dollar bill in her pocket from the Tooth Fairy, the kindergartner was beside herself as she moved from rack to rack, lifting a pink sweat shirt, a blue shirt, then a purple jacket. Excitedly, she grabbed a pair of sneakers in pink, orange and blue. "It's so cute," she smiled, showing two missing front teeth.

Suntanned and immaculately coiffed, Hermes necktie knotted tightly to a stiff collar, William Walton Stewart is sitting in his spacious conference room feeling bewildered and more than a little betrayed. After all, this is Don Guillermo-- as he is known to some in the Orange County courthouse--the man who has managed to hold onto the county's contract to defend poor people accused of crimes, while running an import-export business from Bogota, Colombia.

A summer program that provides free meals to poor children has 67 outlets in Orange County, and needy parents can learn the site nearest to them by calling a toll-free telephone number. Youths 18 and younger are eligible for the free breakfasts and lunches. The toll-free number is (800) EAT-N-GRO. "There is no registration required, and all that is needed is to show up and get in line and get food," said Annette Jewell, a coordinator for the Orange County Community Development Council.

Golden West College students, faculty and staff members will collect toys and non-perishable food items that will be given to needy college students and their families at Christmas. The drive will begin Monday and continue through Thursday.. Students who receive the holiday-drive donations are selected by college financial aid office representatives.

Addie Romero sees children come to class in the Santa Ana Unified School District wearing hand-me-downs and shoes with the toes cut out because their families don't have the money to buy new ones. So for Romero, a district community worker, a three-hour shopping spree this week at K mart in Fountain Valley to buy new clothes for 25 needy students suited her just fine. "Some of these children would not be able to wear new clothes otherwise," Romero said.

Attorney William W. Stewart, recently criticized for his firm's handling of criminal cases involving indigent defendants, could lose his lucrative county contract for providing legal assistance to poor people today when judges of Orange County Municipal Court's Central District consider a reorganization plan. Central District Presiding Judge Gregory H.

A standoff at high noon on a rambling canyon ranch with a history as long as any Western tale left Aaron Salgado wondering Friday what would become of his family. "I don't know what to do," said Salgado, standing behind a locked metal gate literally separating his home from the outside world. "It's like we're in jail, but we're not in jail." A longstanding territorial feud between rancher Sam Porter and his neighbors stranded Salgado and about 40 other tenants of a shantytown on the property.