From humble beginnings in a Mission Hills couple's garage where food and furniture were collected and distributed to the poor, MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity) celebrated the grand opening of its new 40,000-square-foot multi-service center March 31 in Pacoima with hundreds of supporters and dignitaries.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring State Senator Alex Padilla, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and State Assembly member/Los Angeles City Council Member-Elect Richard Alarcon opened the festivities, which included tours of the $8.5 million facility at 10641 San Fernando Road, financed through community contributions.

MEND is the San Fernando Valley's largest poverty agency, providing 40,000 needy recipients every month with assistance that includes emergency clothing, health care, food, education and training.

"I never expected anything like this when we first started MEND," said Ed Rose, who with his wife Carolyn began collecting food for the poor in their two-car garage back in the late '60s. That was before joining forces with 17 members of several Catholic and Protestant churches in the Northeast San Fernando Valley to establish MEND in 1971. While no longer directly connected to any specific religious group, MEND continues to draw support from various faith communities as well as non-sectarian organizations.

"I'm just so thrilled that we're able to serve the community in a more dignified manner because they deserve it," said Carolyn, who, along with her husband, recruited some of MEND's first volunteers from their parish, Our Lady of Peace in North Hills.

Richard Bush, honored during the grand opening as MEND's 2006 volunteer of the year, is an Our Lady of Peace parishioner who answered the Roses' call for volunteers in the early '70s.

"The needs of the people are overwhelming at times, and MEND is always able to step up and meet those needs," said Bush, a MEND member-at-large who has served as a co-chair for fund-raising and the Christmas program." It's just a great feeling to be able to be part of that. I just feel we're empowered by God to help others and MEND is one of the ways to do that."

Former MEND recipient Erika Contreras, who lived as a child in a low-income mobile park on the site of the new MEND facility, expressed her thanks during the grand opening's press conference to the many volunteers who helped her family during a difficult time.

"We were only separated by a chain link fence from the rest of the community," said Contreras, currently a legislative director for Assemblyman Jose Solorio. "And, at the same time, we were very invisible to everybody else.

"It was MEND who saw right through that, came into our community, walked into our homes and asked what services we needed," said Contreras. "They taught us we weren't invisible and that there was hope and that there were opportunities to improve and eventually get out of poverty."

Following Contreras, State Senator Alex Padilla repeated a phrase his mother used to say: "Poverty doesn't equal shame." He complimented the beauty of the multi-colored, decorative tile-accented interior that he said reminded him of an upscale shopping mall.

"And why not? The people who come here for help should receive no less respect, no less dignity in their experience of providing for their families than anybody else. [MEND] helps meet each need with dignity and that's why this facility looks the way it does," said Padilla.

"This is a place when you walk in the doors, it says welcome," said County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. He noted county officials were especially excited about MEND's expanded health care services available in the new facility. In the San Fernando Valley, "ground zero" for the [1.5-to-2 million] uninsured in L.A. County, "putting this clinic here in this census strata is absolutely the right thing to do," declared Yaroslavsky.

MEND's new center features a 10,000-square-foot medical clinic, which is six times the size of the current clinic on Van Nuys Boulevard in Pacoima. The dental clinic, through a partnership with Loma Linda University, will increase from three dental chairs to eight. Once MEND is completely moved into its new facility in the next few weeks, the center at Van Nuys will be used as the agency's education and training department.

MEND's executive director, Marianne Haver Hill, told The Tidings she is proud of the way MEND has been able to expand its services. The new building will provide a "Showers for the Homeless" program and an expanded on-site food warehouse and larger clothing distribution center with three dressing rooms for recipients to try on clothing.

"We're just thrilled we're finally at this place," said Haver Hill. "It's been such a long journey to get here. It's such a beautiful building to offer the community."

"It's so exciting and hard to believe we've come this far," said Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father Donald Bernard, associate pastor at Santa Rosa Parish in San Fernando who was one of the early MEND founders. "I'm just very proud about this organization that truly responds to the needs of the marginal poor."

Editor's note: Readers who wish to contribute to MEND's capital campaign, currently $700,000 shy of its $8.5 million for the new facility, may contact Marianne Haver Hill at (818) 896-0246, ext. 212 or marianne@mendpoverty.org.