Tag: food pantries

San Jose tells food pantry it must shut down

A popular San Jose neighborhood food pantry is at risk of closing again after being hit with more zoning violations.

Lighthouse Food Rescue & Distribution was cited by San Jose on Sept. 25 for hosting its food distribution on the sidewalk and for not following zoning rules, as a food distribution center is no longer permitted in that neighborhood. If the organization does not comply within 10 days by removing the distribution and canopies from the sidewalk, it will start incurring daily fines of up to $20,000 a day, according to the citation, which also says the food pantry must cease operations within 60 days.

“I’m up against the wall,” Pastor Ralph Olmos, president and CEO of the food pantry, told San José Spotlight. “It’s almost like (the city is) telling me to stop. But my conviction says, ‘How can I leave the people?’”

Residents and advocates have said the food pantry is a lifeline for the community, serving families, older adults, homeless people and those with disabilities. The organization feeds more than 1,000 people a day, five days a week from noon to 5 p.m. It offers a variety of foods that are not available at other pantries — including milk, meat and eggs.

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Local Governments Play Scrooge To Stop People from Helping the Needy

It wouldn’t truly be the Christmas season here at Reason without a report about officials trying to shut down a project to help the needy. This year’s tale comes from Roslindale, a suburb of Boston.

There, as the coronavirus pandemic played out, residents looked for ways to help the needy in their neighborhood. A group of volunteers started putting together a community food pantry, salvaging groceries from local stores before they’d be tossed out as waste. A local therapist agreed to host the group’s fridge and freezer in her backyard. The group was serving more than 50 people every Friday.

Then local officials came calling. The Boston Inspectional Services Department warned the volunteers that they were operating an “illegal food pantry” and that they could, if they continued, face $1,000 fines and a year in prison.

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