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HB Mayor, health district Look to SHARE the food
by Robb Fulcher
Mayor John Bowler and the Beach Cities Health District are spearheading a campaign to bring the nationwide SHARE food co-op to the beach cities in force. The program allows residents of limited financial means to receive $50 worth of groceries a month for only $15.
It’s all "first-class, grocery store-quality" food, Bowler said. The only catch is that participants in the SHARE program must perform two hours of very loosely defined and completely unsupervised service to their community each month.
The food is inexpensive because it’s bought in bulk. Because SHARE is a co-op, its organizers want as many people as possible to participate, whatever their economic status may be.
"It creates a win-win. You get your food at a 50 to 70 percent discount and the community is helped," said Bowler, a former tavern owner who now works "just about full time" helping to set up the food distribution network in Los Angeles County.
Beach cities distribution centers will include St. Paul’s United Methodist Church at 2600 Nelson Ave. and the health district offices at 514 N. Prospect Ave., both in Redondo Beach.
The Hermosa Kiwanis Club has agreed to bring the food from a produce center in Los Angeles to distribution points in the South Bay, using trucks provided for free by member Barbara Holland, who owns a trucking company.
"It’s a great program," said Rick Koenig, community services director for the Kiwanis. "I can’t wait to get this going."
SHARE, which stands for Self Help and Resource Exchange, was started in 1983 in St. Vincent de Paul Village in San Diego. The project became non-denominational as it grew, and now has spread to 22 cities and four foreign countries.
The greater Los Angeles area has been slow to catch SHARE fever, Bowler said.
"It’s huge in San Diego, it’s big in San Francisco, and for reasons passing understanding it has not caught on real big in L.A.," he said.
The program is ideal for the working poor, Bowler said.
"You don’t think about it that much in the South Bay, because it’s higher income, but there are seniors who own their houses but basically live on social security," he said.
Participants can kick in $8 more each month and take home double orders of meat, fish and fowl.
"That will feed a family of four for a month," Bowler said.
Vegetarians can get a meat-, fish- and fowl-free package called Nu-SHARE.
Participants can pay with food stamps if they wish. A similar program for vitamins and prescription medications also is available.
The community service aspect of the SHARE program is defined as "anything which benefits someone else, for which you are not paid," according to a statement from the health district. "You can clean up your neighborhood, work on church projects, volunteer with the Red Cross, the Scouts, the United Way, help out at a senior center or simply help with the distribution of the SHARE food packages at your center."
Participants keep track of their own hours.
"It’s on the honor system, so it’s very easy to administer," Bowler said.
For more information on SHARE call Charlotte Lesser at the Beach Cities Health District, 374-3426 ext. 199. For more information on the program for vitamins and prescription medications, call (800) 542-1110. ER