SAN JOSE – Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, one among the Bay Area's premier food banks, has decided to shut one among its warehouses after the nonprofit learned it was facing a rent increase.
According to the food bank, the soon-to-be-closed warehouse is situated at 528 Brennan Street in San Jose.
San Jose-based Second Harvest learned from its landlord that its Brennan Street warehouse was facing a multi-year rent increase.
“We analyzed our current operational and volunteer needs and concluded that the cost of maintaining the facility is no longer the best use of our resources,” said Diane Baker Hayward, a spokeswoman for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley.
Second Harvest plans to shut the warehouse by August 31, the nonprofit said.
“This decision presents challenges, including moving some operations back to our existing warehouses while securing additional space for equipment storage,” Hayward said.
The threatened closure of the camp comes at a difficult time for the nonprofit organization, as its services are in high demand at a time of rising inflation.
Following the coronavirus outbreak, demand for food services began to rise after many employees lost their jobs resulting from business closures ordered by state and native authorities.
“Since the need in our community has skyrocketed and we need to serve over 500,000 people each month, Second Harvest operates out of four warehouses,” Hayward said.
According to Second Harvest, these are three warehouses in San Jose and one in San Carlos. The locations in San Jose include the situation that is ready to shut.
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley began leasing the Brennan Street location, an 8,400-square-foot warehouse, as demand for the nonprofit's food services skyrocketed within the wake of economic woes brought on by the coronavirus.
“Our other facilities were bursting at the seams as we rapidly doubled our volume to meet the increasing need in our community,” Hayward said.
The food bank viewed the Brennan Street location as temporary. The nonprofit uses the Brennan Street warehouse for volunteer production shifts and to store equipment, supplies and food.
The prospect of a multi-year lease and an associated increase in rent prompted Second Harvest to stop operations there and consolidate its locations.
The closure of the Brennan location will lead to a number of the jobs assigned there being relocated because the food bank reorganizes the locations of its employees.
“The closure of Brennan will require a restructuring of some of our teams,” Hayward said. “We are beginning to develop a plan to address these changes.”
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