After paying around $1 in rent for the past 11 years, the Milpitas Food Pantry might have to start paying market rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Milpitas Food Pantry, which has been in existence since the 1950s, has been serving the community by providing food and other items to low-income families and individuals, as well as the homeless community.<\/p>\n
The organization is located at 1440 S. Main Street, a building that is owned by the City of Milpitas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the Milpitas Food Pantry moved into the space in 2011, they struck a deal with the city to pay a reduced rent of $1,600 per month. But back in 2014, Mayor Carmen Montano suggested that the City of Milpitas reduce their rent to $1 per month, in an effort to support the organization in serving the community\u2019s most vulnerable members.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pantry has been paying that rate for over a decade now. In the last few months, the rate was raised by 20% to $1.21. According to the food pantry, this was due to a standard cost of living increase.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSince we haven\u2019t had to worry about spending the money on rent, I could spend it in other ways that made more sense,\u201d said the Milpitas Food Pantry\u2019s Executive Director Karen Kolander in an interview with The Beat.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the Milpitas City Council meeting on May 5, the council mentioned the possibility of raising the Milpitas Food Pantry\u2019s rent to the market rate, which representatives of the food pantry say is over $5,000.<\/p>\n
The sudden desire to increase the rent for one of Milpitas\u2019 longest running nonprofit organizations is leaving many in the community wondering what happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When The Beat reached out to Mayor Montano to ask why there was a sudden push to increase the rent to market rate, she responded saying that the organization had many different issues. One of her concerns was that the food pantry wasn\u2019t open every day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey supposedly increased from two days to three days a week after negotiations with City staff, but to date, they\u2019re not always there three days,\u201d said Mayor Montano.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But representatives from the Milpitas Food Pantry say that this isn\u2019t true, and that their hours are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 9am-12pm, for a total of nine hours per week. In addition, volunteers also work outside those hours to shop and gather food items to keep the pantry fully stocked each week. Along with canned items, they also buy fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, and milk.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before the pandemic, the food pantry was open for a total of 19 hours a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have enough volunteers to be open any longer than we\u2019re open,\u201d said Stacy Brobst, an administrative assistant for the organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At present, the Milpitas Food Pantry has around seven volunteers. Before the pandemic, they had 25.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n