Regional food bank now delivers to Long Beach, saving local pantries a 30-mile drive
After a Long Beach federal food aid provider abruptly closed in September amid a state investigation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit has stepped up to help.
When the Food Bank of Southern California shuttered its Long Beach facility without warning in late September, smaller local food pantries had to swiftly figure out how to get supplies from the region’s only other provider of federal food aid, whose warehouse is in the City of Industry.
No longer. The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank this week began bringing a truck full of staples including fresh produce, canned goods and frozen meat to a Long Beach parking lot, where smaller nonprofits that might not have their own vehicle or extra funding for gas can stop by and pick up what they need.
The Long Beach-based Food Bank of Southern California had served the area for nearly 50 years and was one of two organizations in Los Angeles County that worked with the state to distribute food from a federal emergency aid program. But the state Department of Social Services ended its agreement with the food bank Sept. 26 amid an ongoing investigation into how government money was spent.
The food bank's CEO, Brian Weaver, has alleged that his predecessor, Jeanne Cooper, spent the nonprofit's money on herself and other things unrelated to its mission, while Cooper has claimed she blew the whistle on misspending by Weaver and board members, according to local news reports. Each has denied the allegations against them; Weaver has not responded to requests for comment.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank stepped in, taking over the Long Beach organization’s state allocation and many of its clients. As of late October, the Los Angeles nonprofit had signed on nearly 100 smaller food pantries and other local partners in and around Long Beach, according to information it provided.
But some of those smaller aid providers, already on a shoestring budget, struggled to get to the City of Industry to pick up food for the families they serve. So on Tuesday the regional food bank launched a regular drop-off in a parking lot near St. Mary Medical Center.
“It was a lot more convenient for us – City of Industry was kind of tough,” said Sean Baker, program manager for the YWCA of the Harbor Area in San Pedro. On Thursday, he brought a small U-Haul truck to the distribution and loaded it with boxes of apples, bags of potatoes and other foodstuffs for South Bay families in need.
James Collins of Long Beach’s Help Me Help You said the first local pick-up went great. He didn’t receive as much food as before the change in providers, but he expects it to get back to normal as the Los Angeles organization adjusts to having so many new partners.
“They have actually stepped up and they’ve been supporting us,” he said. “The Long Beach hub was a big help.”
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank Chief Development Officer Roger Castle said the Long Beach deliveries will likely continue several times a week for the foreseeable future.
As one of the nation’s largest food bank, his organization serves an estimated 900,000 people each month and now works with more than 700 local partners to get food to those who need it.
“We just want to serve everybody and make it equitable,” he said of the decision to deliver to Long Beach. “We feel confident that we can serve those agencies.”
We need your support.
Subcribe to the Watchdog today.
The Long Beach Watchdog is owned by journalists, and paid for by readers like you. If independent, local reporting like the story you just read is important to you, support our work by becoming a subscriber.
