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Someone Cares Soup Kitchen
Merle Hatleberg, who at the time was working as a Costa Mesa site director for an Orange County seniors program, founded the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in 1986. Each day Merle had numerous people coming to the door at her work place who were hungry but didn't qualify as seniors for feeding. Many of these "people" were school-aged children. She was usually able to slip them some food, but there was an unmet need that was deeply troubling to her. Drawing on her own meager funds, she bought a large pot and made her first “pot of soup” on June 15, 1986. That first day Merle served about thirty people and the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen was born. From 1986 until 1997 the Soup Kitchen served its meals setting up in local churches or at the Rea Community Center in Costa Mesa. In 1997, with the help of many local business fundraiser's, the Soup Kitchen was able to purchase a building that used to be a Chinese restaurant. For the past six years, we are proud, along with our dedicated staff and over 150 active volunteers, to have kept the doors open at our location and given our guests a place that they know they are always welcomed.
Our Mission
Our mission is simple: To feed a daily nutritional meal to the homeless, the unemployed, the working poor, the mentally challenged, the physically challenged, the senior citizens and most important of all – the children. We provide this meal to our guests in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere. Our belief is that no one should go to bed hungry, on the street or otherwise. The Soup Kitchen provides a nutritional and tasteful meal to the less fortunate in our community. A meal that we would be proud to serve our family at home. A well-balanced meal made fresh daily consisting of vegetable soup, lettuce and fruit salads, hearty and filling side dishes, breads and muffins, desert, milk and water.
Our Impact
Currently the Soup Kitchen is serving over 300 guests per day, 7 days per week. Meals are served Monday through Friday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and a pancake breakfast is served every Saturday and Sunday morning. In 2003, the kitchen served 118,625 meals. Of these 16,192 were from unduplicated guests. According to our most recent survey that was administered in August 2003 our guests are comprised of the following:
- 25% are families with school aged children
- 30% are the homeless
- 20% are the working poor or unemployed
- 10% are the mentally or physically challenged
- 15% are senior citizens
In 2002 there were 23,000 people reported to be homeless and living in Orange County. (1) In 2003 these numbers grew by 19% to total 27,947. Deeply disturbing and also the fastest growing segment are families with children. the largest area of growth in the homeless population has been in the area of homeless families with children. Of the 16,192 unduplicated guests the Soup Kitchen served in 2003 compared to the reported number of homeless persons living in Orange County, the Soup Kitchen is serving a nutritional meal to 58% of the homeless population in Orange County! These numbers indicate a growing need for our services.
Holidays
On holidays, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, the Soup Kitchen provides a special meal and celebration that these people would not have otherwise. Over 500 guests are served each holiday and most of these guests are "first-timers" to the kitchen. At Christmas, a toy drive is organized. this year nearly 1,000 deserving children were able to visit with and have their picture taken with Santa Claus and then received Christmas presents. It is a wonderful sight to witness the less fortunate children in our community experience a traditional Christmas celebration. Christmas is one of our busiest days here at the Soup Kitchen.
Tutoring Program
Not only does the Soup Kitchen feed the body it feeds the mind. the Someone Cares Soup Kitchen began its Someone Cares Tutoring Program in October 2001. the Tutoring Program provides an after school program committed to providing literacy and academic achievement to the impoverished and at risk students that live in our neighborhood. The program is for children K-3rd grade. Someone Cares Tutoring Program provides an opportunity to serve a population in need of a variety of social services. The uniqueness of this program is that the location allows the children living in the neighborhood to receive academic support while also insuring that they won't go hungry. Feeding both the minds and bodies of these children is vital to their well being and necessary to break the cycle of poverty. It's hours of operation are Monday - Thursday from 2:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Each day the Tutoring Program will provide the 45 children attending with the following services. Each week each student will receive 4 hours of individual instruction in the following areas:
- Tutoring in reading, spelling, language, math, science and technology for three hours after school.
- Professional tutors at 15:3 ratio students/tutors.
- Assistance with understanding and keeping up with homework (as so many of the children's parents do not speak English, they cannot assist their children with their homework).
- Access to and training on computers and computer software that fosters academic skills and technical literacy.
- Children are served either a meal or a healthy snack prior to being tutored and a take home snack for the evening.
Pomona Elementary School Testimony
Principal Julie McCormick of Pomona Elementary School located in Costa Mesa provides us with our students for the Tutoring Program; she indicates that many of her 2nd & 3rd grade students are doing kindergarten level work. From 2000-2003 Stanford 9 test scores for Pomona Elementary were considerably lower than the District's average. the most recent 2002-2003 test results show that 12.9% of students were proficient in english, while 22.3% were proficient in Math. Pomona elementary is a Reading First School and has received a Federal First, three year grant and is considered a Program Improvement School as defined by the No Child Left Behind act of 2001. The tutoring program is committed to providing each child with individualized instruction to increase the reading, math, spelling and english levels of the 45 students who attend the program by 1 grade level on the standardized test; as a result of program services, 75% of the students will achieve an advance of 1 grade level and 25% will advance 2 grade levels on their standardized test. All parents of the students enrolled in the program are considered low to very-low income and most are non-English speaking (their income is based on HUD's Income Report).
We hope to break the cycle of poverty before it starts with these children by securing a strong foundation in their early education. By providing a proper foundation and the tools needed to go forth with their education we hope they will continue school through college and influence their own children to do the same-ultimately breaking the cycle of poverty for their family tree.