Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/15710
LONGBEACHMAGAZINE.COM 75 "I still to this day believe it's a miracle and God's intervention that after the life I led as a gay man…I was literally at Ground Zero in New York when the first cases started coming to light. I felt I had been spared," he said. "This is what I'm supposed to do." Immediately after joining the church, Howell stepped into an unofficial role at the food store. For the past year and a half, he's served on the board, as the community relations director. "When I first came here in 2003, you couldn't go up to the altar because there was just food everywhere," he said. And though they have often fed upwards of 125 people in one day, "We've always been able to have enough food for everyone," Martinez said. "Many times we have wondered how. Many times we look at the shelves and go, 'What's it going to look like at the end of the month?' And there has always been enough." Though, now, the donations are mostly monetary. Each Sunday at the church, a client or volunteer from the store shares a message with the congregation, to remind them that donations are always needed. Six to seven tons of food lasts the store three to four months. When the clients line up along the walkway outside the church every other Saturday, Howell shakes the hand of every person. The ones he knows well, he hugs. They tell him they are so glad the food store is still around after all of these years. Some days, if a regular is missing, Howell questions the other clients. Someone will say, "He passed away." "It's the personal interaction I have with them that makes me know we're doing a good thing," Howell said. Martinez recalls one man, recently diagnosed with HIV, who came into the church a week before. He walked up, paperwork in hand, and asked if he was in the right place. "As I introduced myself, he broke down. He just started crying. He had gotten to the point where he could no longer work or take care of himself. He didn't know what he was going to do next, where he was gonna go, where his next meal was coming from. He was just so thankful he had found a place where somebody would help him," Martinez said. "That's why we do it," Howell adds. "Because these people can't." n The AIDS Food Store of Long Beach is located at 3935 East 10th Street. For more information on the store or to make a donation, contact JaySun Howell at 562.434.3425 or visit aidsfoodstore.org