SAN BERNARDINO >> Hundreds of homeless people in downtown San Bernardino had something to be thankful for on Sunday: Darla Roberts and her colleagues at Omnitrans.
Between 2 and 3 p.m., Roberts and her friends from work handed out dozens of bagged lunches, stuffed with chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, coffee cake, bread and bottled water, to the homeless at Seccombe Lake Park, Meadowbrook Park, and near the U-Haul at Rialto Avenue and Second Street.
Every year on her birthday for the last four years, Roberts, a 44-year-old Riverside resident and Los Angeles transplant, has handed out bagged lunches to hundreds of homeless people on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. When Roberts began working at Omnitrans in 2013, her colleagues heard about her annual tradition and wanted to get involved. On Roberts’ birthday on Aug. 6, she and her coworkers fed nearly 400 people on Skid Row, Roberts said.
Now, Roberts and her coworkers decided to bring their philanthropy to San Bernardino, just in time for the holidays.
“Since we work in San Bernardino, we decided to switch it up and come to San Bernardino,” Roberts said. She said providing as many of San Bernardino’s homeless with bagged lunches may also become an annual tradition as well.
At Seccombe Lake Park, Sytina Sharawn Garrett moved about a blue dome tent, one among a cluster at a lakeside tent encampment. She was one of about 20 homeless people at the park who received a meal. She said she has been encamped at the park with her 55-year-old mother, Michaele Floress Wilson, for the last week. Prior to that, she was living in a garage at a private residence on Oakhurst Drive.
When asked what she thought about the generosity of Roberts and her colleagues, Garrett, 36, said she would rather have a home, but was appreciative nonetheless for being able to fill her belly with some good grub.
“It’s a blessing to be able to feed people to keep them carrying on, especially if they have no place to go,” she said.
