THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190845
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SARAH HUNTLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Weighed down by a brown bag bulging with food, 7-year-old Michael Callender struggled as he walked away from the crowd gathered around the tractor-trailer. He shifted the hefty bag in his arms. Then he stood still. A look of panic crossed his face.
``Have you got that all right?'' asked an Operation Blessing volunteer who was passing out the 2,000 parcels of food and drinks donated to families in Campostella Square on Thursday.
The boy's eyes got wider.
``My pants are falling down,'' he said softly.
The volunteer bent over and tugged at Michael's fire-orange denim shorts, pulling them above his tiny waistline.
``I need a belt,'' Michael told Tynesha Howard, as he joined his friends under a nearby tree. But Tynesha, 8, was too busy to listen.
``It's some kind of drink and some beans, and I don't know what the other things are,'' Tynesha reported as she peeked inside the bag she had been handed by Operation Blessing's crew.
The giveaway in Campostella Square, which drew several hundred adults and children, was one of seven in Hampton Roads on Thursday when Operation Blessing's Hunger Strike Force Convoy rolled through town.
``This is a wonderful stop for what we call the convoy of compassion,'' said religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, founder of Operation Blessing. ``We hope to raise consciousness about hunger in America.''
Stocked with canned goods and produce, seven 18-wheeled trucks are traveling across the United States to help feed America's hungry. By the time this year's drive is over on Oct. 26, Operation Blessing, a project affiliated with the Christian Broadcasting Network, will have provided about 2.2 million meals to families in 17 cities coast to coast.
Volunteers - including Robertson, television celebrity Mr. T and Broadway dancer Carol Lawrence - unloaded 280,000 pounds of food in Hampton Roads, the convoy's sixth stop.
In Chesapeake, each sack contained three pounds of rice, three pounds of beans, three cans of meat, salad dressing, cereal and bottled juices. Church organizations and some families also received sacks of potatoes. Similar goods were distributed in Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach throughout the day.
According to Norfolk's Division of Social Services, 65,823 households in six Hampton Roads cities, not including Suffolk, receive food stamps.
Robertson said the food was donated by farms and businesses because it didn't meet market standards for size or appearance.
``It's good food. We had a whole truckload of carrots given to us in Chicago because they were kept in a temperature one degree below standards,'' he said.
For Linda Harper, a part-time school bus driver with four children, the food was a blessing. ``I can't find a full-time job, and my kids eat five times a day, not three,'' she said. ``This will help make ends meet.''
For others, the appearance of ``A-Team'' star Mr. T was a treat, too.
``He hugged me twice. I wanted to hear him say `You fool' so bad,' '' Barbara Snell, 54, said, referring to the celebrity's famous phrase.
Mr. T wore a blue-denim Operation Blessing shirt like many other workers but dressed it up in his own flamboyant way. His hair was cut in his customary Mohawk style. A gold chain hung heavy around his neck, and a rhinestone earring was in his left ear.
``When I'm doing God's work, I'm kind of speechless. I come just to inspire people and give them love,'' he said. ``I want them to say that's Mr. T, and he's with the B-Team. B for Operation Blessing.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
DONATIONS
Operation Blessing especially needs canned foods, rice, baby
formula, powdered milk, potatoes, bottled water and dried beans.
Nonfood items, like clothing, hand tools, toiletries and disposable
diapers, also are needed.
Items can be dropped off at the Operation Blessing warehouse, 907
Live Oak Drive, Chesapeake. The group will also pick up donations.
Call 1-800-436-6348 for more information.
by CNB