Volunteer catches the spirit

Lindsay Sandham

With $600 of her own money and a big pot, Merle Hatleberg opened the

Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa in June 1986.

As the director of a center for low-income senior citizens,

Hatleberg said she came in contact with a lot of hungry families.

“So many families with children would come knock on my door for

food,” she said. “That was a federal program [the senior center], and

I was not authorized to give them anything, so I usually tried to buy

a little something to keep on hand for them -- food or whatever.”

Children are her weakness, she said, and she cannot stand to see a

hungry child, so she approached the city of Costa Mesa with her idea

of opening the soup kitchen.

During the three months between filing the paperwork and gaining

approval from the city, she saved and saved and bought a big soup

pot.

The operation has grown a lot in its 19 years. It has gone from

serving 30 people the first day to 300 people daily, and it has moved

multiple times.

Seven years ago, Hatleberg bought a Chinese restaurant on West

19th Street and turned it into the soup kitchen’s current home. The

outside of the one-story pagoda-like structure remains unaltered,

with its tiny gargoyle dragons perched on the corners of the roof.

Open for lunch seven days a week, Someone Cares feeds a lot of

homeless and hungry people.

“It’s just for anyone that’s hungry,” Hatleberg said. “We don’t

ask any questions; you don’t have to show any credentials. The only

requirement: They have to be hungry.”

Chef Lorrie Sanchez said Someone Cares is a five-star soup kitchen

-- if there is such a thing -- that serves a hearty five-course meal:

a salad, soup, bread, a main course, a dessert, and sometimes even

homemade lemonade.

But the employees at Someone Cares don’t stop at serving food,

Hatleberg said. They do anything they can to help people in need --

whether it’s giving them a sleeping bag to keep warm at night or

connecting them with other organizations that can help them find jobs

or apartments. She said they work closely with Share Our Selves and

Interfaith Shelter.

“All most of them need is a little bit of guidance or a little

push,” she said. “So that’s what we try to do.”

The recipient of many awards for her more than 33,000 hours of

volunteer work over the years, Hatleberg was recently honored as a

“Volunteer Hero” at the Volunteer Center Orange County’s 29th annual

Spirit of Volunteerism Awards ceremony.

“It’s just what I do everyday,” she said. “I don’t do it for

awards ... it just comes naturally.”

Shannon Santos, Hatleberg’s granddaughter and manager of the soup

kitchen, said her grandmother is always on the go and never stops

working. Even now, at 82, she makes her way up to work from San

Clemente three days a week.

“This is what keeps her going,” Santos said.

The word retire is not in her dictionary, Hatleberg said, although

she still knows how to have a good time, and when she’s not working,

she’s watching the Angels play baseball.

“You know you can make fun out of anything,” she said. “I get up

every morning and say, ‘I’m going to have a great day.’”

Linda Hollack, who’s in charge of security for Someone Cares, said

she has never met anyone as caring and selfless as Hatleberg.

“She does not have one stitch of selfishness,” she said. “I’m so

blessed to even know someone as fabulous as her.”

Even after accomplishing as grand a feat as creating a soup

kitchen that feeds 300 people a day, Hatleberg continues to

strategize and work toward bettering society.

She started an after-school tutoring program three years ago for

kindergarten through third-grade students from Pomona Elementary. She

is saving money to buy a modular classroom, so she can move the

students and three professional tutors out of a sectioned-off area of

the dining room they use for studying.

“Sometimes during the feeding period ... we have a problem with

[people] waiting,” she said. “To keep good with the city, I try to

not have them standing outside. I want everyone to be able to come

in.”

For more information about Someone Cares, call (949) 548-8861. It

is located at 720 W. 19th St. and is open Monday to Friday from 1

p.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.