Eighty-two-year-old Nancy Costello earns her title "The Food Lady" every day.

After all the excesses of these last many weeks of feast days, there''s nothing quite like January to clean the slate and point the way to redemption. But while many of us are nagged by the number of pounds we''d like to lose, haunted by the memory of our pre-holiday pants size, there''s a sad irony in the fact that the coming winter months present a different challenge to a frightening number of people: simply getting enough to eat.

A couple of years ago I wrote about a local lady by the name of Nancy Costello, who has been collecting excess food and supplies from local businesses and distributing it to the needy for more than 30 years. Among the grocery storeowners and managers who donate food to her, and the many low-income people who enjoy her bounty, Costello is better known as "the Food Lady." At age 82, her job description remains unchanged from when I first met her. As often as seven days a week, she makes her rounds, collecting a half-ton flatbed truck''s worth of edibles that would likely otherwise be thrown away, and giving it out all over Monterey County to folks who are all too happy to receive it.

I rode along with Costello on one of her excursions one chilly November afternoon. Her first stop was a storage unit that she rents to house donations of furniture, clothing and blankets. The next stop was a neighborhood in Castroville, and then on to Family Bargain Center in Salinas, where she purchased some new school uniform-style sweaters. Then on we trekked into the East Alisal area, neighborhood by neighborhood, where she''s immediately recognized by the tooting of her horn. The people came, streaming down the street, carrying their empty sacks and garbage bags and queuing up alongside. Costello is careful with each item, always asking how many are in the household if she''s dealing with someone she doesn''t know. It was late that evening when we finished, about 10 o''clock. I was done, but she was ready to get up with the chickens the next morning to start all over again.

Despite her age, her work continues. She won''t retire--says she can''t find a replacement. And she still has no taste for the limelight, not wanting to be perceived as some sort of "do-gooder." Nonetheless, she remains emphatic about the need that exists in Monterey County. When I checked in with her recently, she waved me on toward others working behind the scenes whom she insists deserve credit.

One of those people is Pastor Frank Gomez at Salinas Hispanic Fellowship of the United Methodist Church. Maintaining that he is "a recipient rather than a middleman," Gomez says, "I learned about Nancy''s work and contacted her about getting some food here. We''re not one of her usual stops, but if she has something left over once she''s done out in the streets, she comes by and drops off what''s left."

Members of Gomez''s congregation began going door to door in migrant work camps back in October, registering families to track their specific needs. Throughout the holiday season they then worked to allocate the food, toys and gifts that were collected, the result of a combined effort of several churches. Salinas Hispanic Fellowship was able to bring a real Christmas to 80 families this past holiday season, families that include some 300 children. But the effort doesn''t end with the new year. "Food becomes critical over the next few months," says Gomez, "because the majority of field and factory workers will be out of work, probably through March."

"This time of year the need shoots way up," underscores Sandhya Kolar, who works with Costello and Gomez. "And it seems like each year there''s more." Kolar has observed the continually increasing need ever since she first volunteered to help pack a 50-pound bag of rice almost eight years ago. "At the time, I thought it was so much," she recalls, smiling at the memory. This Christmas season, she and a group of friends packed over 3,000 pounds of rice and 400 pounds of beans, forming a human chain that stretched from inside Kolar''s home where it was scooped into Zip-Loc bags and passed out the door again, on the way to its next destination.

"It just goes from our house to the people who need it," she explains, "and this year the outpouring was wonderful. We were able to buy necessities--underwear, socks, shampoo, toothpaste--and gifts for the children. It''s grown by word of mouth and become a community effort with such a variety of people and cultures all pitching in to help, and making new friends."

The last Sunday of every month the group assembles, sometimes a handful of people, and sometimes more. "If we get 3,000 pounds of rice and only 15 people show up, it can be a challenge," says Kolar. "But you know how miracles happen. When it seems like the donations have stopped, all of a sudden somebody will put an envelope by the front door. You can see the miracle every month. I''ve learned not to worry," she reflects, "because it''ll be exactly right each time."

Volunteers are always welcome. Call 624-6715 for information.

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