Holy Family Service Center volunteers and donors attending an open house of the new facility across the street from St. Charles Borromeo Church in North Hollywood May 20 were all smiles as they toured the newly-constructed building dedicated to serving the area's poor.

For many, it represents a permanent tribute and renewal of commitment to the vision of a dedicated group of religious and lay parishioners who established an on-site parish service center 25 years ago to aid low-income and homeless neighbors by providing free food and clothing.

Parishioners used to the old service center --- demolished to erect the new facility --- are thrilled with the new building's doubled space capacity inside, as well as the exterior embellishments of colonnade, arched tiled front insets of the Holy Family and St. Charles Borromeo, and the detached gazebo-sheltered statue at the corner of Moorpark and Lankershim honoring Our Lady of Hope.

"I am excited to see the new center and the statue," said Kristen Vossler, parishioner and service center donor. "I've already talked to people in this area who have noticed this beautiful statue of Our Lady. They are not parish members, but they are impressed."

Longtime parishioner Mary Schallert, 83, says she donated money for the statue in honor of her late husband, William, who volunteered at the center for a decade until his death eight years ago.

"At first, he started once a week," commented Schallert. "Pretty soon, he was going over there every day it was open, he liked it so much." She said many of their 11 children would accompany her husband on the walk down the street from their house to the center, previously housed in an unused classroom building which was so small that clothes had to be hung on racks in the parking lot.

Service center volunteer and parishioner Jean Morrell, a "Saturday" team member who has volunteered her time for 20 years, says the new building is "absolutely wonderful." The previous facility consisted of two converted classrooms, "and we used to say, 'You have to like each other to work here,' because it was very cramped quarters."

While the new building was under construction for a year, the service center was housed in a trailer behind the church, temporarily eliminating the volunteers' ability to store and distribute clothing. "We have quite a few homeless in this area," Morrell noted. "Now that we're in a place to give out clothing, we have more homeless and more out-of-the-parish families [seeking help] in the bad economy."

Parishioner Enedina Jacobo, 41, a full-time magazine graphic artist who devotes two Saturday mornings a month volunteering at the center, said she answered a parish bulletin ad for volunteers after moving into the neighborhood three years ago because she sees the need in the community.

"I think the service center is just a great idea for this area," says Jacobo, who sat next to "Saturday" team member volunteer, Mike McParlane, 90, at the open house reception. "Everybody is a volunteer," noted Jacobo. "We're not there to get paid. We're not there to get anything more than the satisfaction that the need is being met through the volunteers. It's just great donating your time."

Earlier that Wednesday morning, service center director Dave Risk hung religious art on the walls in preparation for the evening's open house, and told The Tidings that 21 more volunteers have come forward --- bringing the total number to nearly 70 --- since the new center opened May 5. The center is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 9-11:45 a.m.

The food distributed to the needy at the center comes from parishioner donations, parish organizations, the Postal Workers Collection and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which distributes USDA free and low cost food items accounting for approximately 30 percent of the non-perishable canned food inventory. Low-income and homeless clients from the surrounding area, after registering at the center, may pick up food and clothing items once a month.

According to Risk, parishioners donated so many clothes in anticipation of the new center's opening, that they were "inundated." The Post Office food drive May 9 netted the center 15,000 pounds of food now stored in the new walk-in cooler. Donated bread is stored on movable tiered racks in the new walk-in freezer.

"It's more efficient now. Before, we had several different little closets and areas where we had to go to get various types of food and bring them into a central location. Whereas here," Risk noted, "the food is all sorted in one location, so it's easier to get to and move around."

Once the boxes and bags of clothes are sorted through, clearing floor space for permanently-located food shelves in the donation/sorting area at the end of the building, food baggers will send the bags of food down the new conveyor belt located on the back wall of the middle clothing display room. A community room with a full kitchen, which will be used for parish groups and a future health ministry program, completes the nearly 5,000-square-foot building.

Wednesday food bagger, Bridget Wiegand, who worked practically non-stop May 20 filling two or three grocery bags for each of the 10 families visiting the center by 10:45 that morning, says the new center is a vast improvement.

"There's lots of space," said Wiegand. "It's state-of-the-art with a lot of possibilities. All we have to do is get it organized."

Watching Wiegand bag groceries, Msgr. Robert Gallagher, pastor, said the "wonderful group of volunteers" at the center are "all doing the same thing --- trying to serve God's poor."