Delivering the goods

A man emerged a minute later with a plastic container of pastries, plus two spare blueberry muffins on top. By now, the back of the van was filled floor to ceiling, and Jordan barely managed to close the side door.

The van pulled back into the Share Our Selves parking lot at 10:30 a.m. Inside, dozens of volunteers stuffed bags in the pantry, while clients at the front desk filled out forms indicating how many people they needed to feed. Other questions on the form include “Do you live in a motel?” and “Do you have cooking facilities?”

The pantry provides food weekly for low-income families and daily for homeless ones. In between the bread and produce are shelves containing toiletries, hygiene products, diapers, even birthday party supplies. Sometimes, Share Our Selves has to go without milk, juice and other items, but the harvest was rich today.

Among those bagging goods was Matthew Gula, a first-year student at Orange Coast College who volunteers for Share Our Selves two days a week. Gula, who grew up in Newport Beach, said his volunteer job had been an eye-opener.

“I’m shocked to see how bad it gets because of the economy,” he said. “I’ve never seen this kind of stuff before. So I’m glad I’m helping.”

11 a.m.

The pantry had been open since 8 a.m., but clients were still streaming through. Share Our Selves closes its doors at 2:45 p.m., though the pantry sometimes stays open a few minutes longer to meet demand.

The people stopping by Monday were a varied crowd — young and old, single and in groups, English-speaking and not. Lorenzo Mendez, a Costa Mesa resident, said through a translator that he had lost his job recently and was picking up free groceries for the first time.

Alex Rodriguez, a former salesman who has been out of work for a year and a half, stopped by to collect food for his wife and two teenagers. The Orange resident said he also gets groceries through his church, but makes a run to Share Our Selves when his supplies diminish.

“It makes a huge difference,” Rodriguez said. “Every little bit helps.”