Second Harvest of Silicon Valley has discontinued distributing food to residents in Los Gatos after being asked to stop by the Los Gatos United Methodist Church, a spokesperson for the food pantry told the Los Gatan.
“Los Gatos United Methodist Church recently notified Second Harvest that, due to organizational changes, it would no longer be able to host the free grocery distribution at its site,” Diane Baker Hayward, director of communications for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, wrote in a Jan. 30 email, noting it had been operated in collaboration with Live Oak Senior Nutrition and Service Center.
“Second Harvest is in conversations with another organization in the area who has expressed strong interest in taking over both the grocery rescue program from the church and continuing the food distribution efforts to serve the area’s senior community, while remaining open to serving all individuals in need.”
Live Oak and Second Harvest had been working together since February 2024, according to the food bank.
“Second Harvest is working with all involved and handling standard transition steps,” Baker Hayward said.
Town of Los Gatos Community Health and Senior Services Commissioner Elanor Yick called for the decision to be reversed.
“I am deeply concerned and disappointed that the free Second Harvest Food Distribution Program will no longer be available via the Live Oak Adult Nutrition Program,” she said, noting that up to 90 people used the service each day it operated. “My hope is that this development can be fully investigated.”
According to people involved in the food distribution, a conflict arose over the limited parking available at the United Methodist property, where Live Oak is based.
Live Oak Senior Nutrition and Service Center has operated at the Los Gatos United Methodist Church since May 1974.
“There is sometimes confusion about the two separate programs, Live Oak Senior Nutrition and Service Center, and Second Harvest,” said Trudy Burling, Live Oak’s board president.
She added their lunch program and classes will continue, stating in a Jan. 29 email, “the Second Harvest program ended today. There may be other agencies that are able to continue this valuable service.”
Burling says the Second Harvest program was primarily a service for seniors, although some homeless people did rely on it, as well.
Jonnye Cartmill is the newly-appointed chair of Los Gatos United Methodist Church’s board of trustees.
“After careful consideration, our Church has made the decision to step away from serving as a physical host site for the Second Harvest distribution program,” she said, stating the decision was based on logistics and capacity considerations.
(Dinah Cotton / Los Gatan)
The Town of Los Gatos has been monitoring the situation and is concerned about the potential impact on the community’s unhoused population.
Jennifer Fosco, the Town of Los Gatos’ senior service coordinator, told Live Oak’s executive director Kathy Mlinarich that because Calvary Church’s House of Hope food pantry is “full right now”, clients would have to travel about eight miles to San Jose—since a Saratoga option is “too far for homeless Los Gatans”.
Then, on Friday afternoon, Mlinarich was fired.
“Kathy was simply told by Trudy Burling and Bud Baker (another board member) that she was being terminated,” her husband Scott said.
Scott used to be on staff at Live Oak, but he tells the Los Gatan he was told to leave the campus on Oct. 30 after a disagreement over parking rules.
He says Live Oak clients, including some who are severely handicapped, have been allowed to park there for years without incident.
Hyujae “Pastor Jae” Lee, who was appointed to the local United Methodist congregation from Illinois last year, says that Scott was asked to temporarily leave the premises to cool down after he got in an argument with members of the church.
According to a Live Oak official, a day earlier, after the board questioned Kathy about an irregularity with a check—as the organization was projecting an approximately $90,000 deficit for the current fiscal year—Scott burst in and created a scene that struck fear into people at the site.
The source told the Los Gatan that Kathy had already cancelled two-thirds of the pickups for the Second Harvest food program by that point (keeping the food delivery from Trader Joe’s, but getting rid of the ones from Safeway—which had supplied more basic options).
Lee told the newspaper the cancellation of the Second Harvest program is related to the ongoing dispute with the Mlinariches.
The Mlinariches say they are now planning legal action.
