By: Abby Coven

News Editor 

A new mobile food program serving low-income neighbors opened outside the Los Gatos Public Library last month. The “Park-It Market” is a refrigerated food truck that can feed up to 100 households a day. Providing a wide range of groceries like fresh fruit and vegetables, meats, bakery items, dry goods, canned food, and dairy products, the food is free of charge for low income residents in town.

West Valley Community Services (WVCS) is a local nonprofit that fights poverty by providing food, housing assistance, and support services to indigent and unhoused individuals in Los Gatos and nearby cities. While WVCS has a food pantry at its Cupertino headquarters, the location isn’t easily accessible to seniors, disabled individuals, and families with young children. Clients struggled because they often had to take multiple buses just to get to the location, and sometimes their groceries would perish before arriving home. Others had to find extended childcare so they could make the trip to the pantry. To address these transportation challenges, the WVCS team created a mobile food pantry to be closer to other places their clients frequented, including senior centers, elementary schools, and community colleges.

Donald Akimoto, WVCS’s Manager of Mobile Operations, says the food truck “provides an opportunity for clients to shop with dignity, keeping their integrity, without embarrassment or judgment.” Residents are often hesitant to shop at the “Park-It Market” because of the stigma associated with not having enough money for food and other necessities. This can happen in Los Gatos when seniors own their home but live on a fixed income of retirement benefits from Social Security. Shopping at the mobile food pantry means they can use the money they save on groceries for other important needs like home repairs. Clients are also worried about the federal administration’s plan to cut back and eliminate some federally-funded food assistance programs for those experiencing financial hardship.

The new, blue “Park-It Market” truck is scheduled to be parked outside the Los Gatos Public Library on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month between 10:00 AM and 11:15 AM. Community members do not have to meet any eligibility criteria, like age, or other requirements to receive food from the van.

In addition to groceries, the food truck has a private office where WVCS staff meet with low-income individuals to learn about their needs and offer help and referrals. The organization serves 350 households in Los Gatos through programs other than food assistance including housing and financial support. WVCS hopes to serve 500 households with the Los Gatos van and other vans it uses for park-it markets in Saratoga, Campbell, and Cupertino. 

(Sources: Los Gatan, SJ Spotlight, WVCS)