San Jose City Council Approves Renegotiation for Emergency Food Relief
SAN JOSE (BCN) -- The San Jose City Council approved the renegotiating of emergency food distribution contracts Wednesday night so they extend through October.
Challenges related to the pandemic like rising unemployment, constricted access to grocery stores and lack of childcare while schools are closed, exacerbated food issues among the city's low-income residents in recent months.
Extending the relief provided in partnership with World Central Kitchen, Team San Jose, Hunger at Home, the Health Trust and Deloitte Consulting solves the issues for the short-term.
By July 31, the partnership had provided more than 52 million meals citywide -- about 387,000 meals per day or 2.5 million per week -- to seniors, low-income children and families, unhoused individuals and others who have been impacted economically, Deputy City Manager Angel Rios said.
"It's not a perfect system, but it is definitely effective and responsive," Rios said.
Councilmember Maya Esparza and Mayor Sam Liccardo expressed similar sentiment on Tuesday as the council considered the extension, and they expressed concern over the meals' nutritional value.
"I don't think they're enough to feed a family for a week," Esparza said. "And sometimes the food in the boxes may not always be, frankly, edible."
Esparza said she saw often saw meal boxes barely filled, sometimes only with a head of cabbage and some lemons and limes.
"We've had a number of instances where delivery trucks are arriving one to two-plus hours late," Esparza also said.
Dolan Beckel, co-lead of the Emergency Operations Center, said the next step is to work with Santa Clara County and other partners to follow and implement nutritional guidelines.
Residents in need of meals can find the nearest pickup locations by entering their zip code at siliconvalleystrong.org.
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