When the Foodbank of Southern California asked for money to buy a 26,000-square-foot North Long Beach warehouse, they pitched it as a pivotal piece for their expansion plans.
Using $11.2 million in state grants, the long-running Long Beach nonprofit promised to purchase the warehouse and overhaul it. They told the state it would significantly bolster its food distributions and include new initiatives like mobile food pantries and “Family Food Boxes” to repurpose food bought from local farms.
But while millions of dollars in public funds were being poured into the warehouse, food bank leaders were trying to take money out, state officials allege.
Board members and the nonprofit’s CEO “repeatedly applied for a loan or line of credit for $2 million dollars using the state-funded Cherry Avenue property as collateral,” according to a letter sent to the food bank from the state Department of Social Services, which was overseeing the project.
In an interview, Foodbank of Southern California CEO Brian Weaver said the organization never moved forward with the loan. He said he applied for a line of credit only as a backup plan for operational expenses because the nonprofit’s cash flow was tight due to spending “about $1 million a month” on food as it tried to ramp up the number of families it fed annually. The warehouse, he said, had yet to open.
But the idea of a loan potentially putting the state’s property at risk was enough for the Social Services Department to step in and put a stop to the entire project.
The state quickly ordered the Foodbank of Southern California to stop all work at the warehouse. They’ve since brought in another nonprofit, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, to take over operations.
It’s one more twist in the state’s case against leaders at the major Long Beach food bank, who are accused of misappropriating more than $10 million in state and federal funds to enrich themselves, friends and family members.
The food bank’s current and former leadership have denied wrongdoing or pointed the finger at each other: Former CEO Jeanne Cooper said she previously contacted the state to report self-dealing and kickbacks among board members. Weaver said he and the only other remaining board member joined the organization’s leadership in 2023. When they discovered the organization’s problems, they immediately set out to fix them and alerted the state, according to Weaver.
In a 164-page lawsuit seeking to recoup money, the California Attorney General’s office alleged that misconduct permeated the food bank for years.
The most egregious instance, the state alleged, included several companies owned by a former board treasurer receiving more than $5 million over eight years for several contracts that did not provide anything usable for the food bank.
Other allegations include Cooper using more than $230,000 in state and federal funds on personal expenses and hundreds of thousands in gifts to nonprofits the board members were associated with.
As part of the legal fight, California canceled its contracts with the Foodbank of Southern California to distribute state aid, severely limiting its operations.
To help fill the gap that decision left in the local social safety net, the state handed the Cherry Avenue warehouse over to the LA Regional Food Bank.
The LA-based nonprofit is now using it as a hub to distribute food commodities like produce, canned goods and frozen meat through local partners.
There was a slight disruption in distribution, but LA Regional Food Bank took immediate steps to ease the transition, said Roger Castle, the nonprofit’s chief development officer.
On Nov. 1, the nonprofit began bringing food from its warehouse in the City of Industry to the Scottish Rite Cultural Center parking lot on Elm Avenue in Downtown Long Beach — giving more than 100 Long Beach partners the option for weekly pickups.
At the start of April, the LA Regional Food Bank shifted pickups to the parking lot of the North Long Beach warehouse at 5580 Cherry Avenue.
Lashanda Kelly, who was picking up food to distribute nearby, said the new pickup option has been “better for us.”
Kelly said she and her sister, Latasha Trammell, give out meals to two local 55+ communities near the Cherry Avenue property.
Another nonprofit in San Pedro, the Young Women’s Christian Association of the United States of America’s Harbor Area Chapter, also regularly picks up food from the Cherry Avenue parking lot.
Sean Baker, program director for the YWCA, said the transition has been seamless and “there’s more choice” with the LA Regional Food Bank’s pickup process.
Baker said he caters his weekly order to the “specific demographics” the YWCA serves in San Pedro based on “what food that they feel comfortable cooking.”
With rising food costs and inflation, Baker said there’s been an uptick in the number of people receiving food assistance through the YWCA.
Roughly a year ago, about 100 people were getting food through YWCA. Now, that number has grown to between 130-150, Baker said.
Both agencies used to get food commodities from the Foodbank of Southern California, which had operated in Long Beach since 1975.
The Foodbank of Southern California continues to operate, but has since “pivoted” without its ability to distribute state aid, according to Weaver.
“We’re still distributing food, we’re just getting it from wherever we can get it,” he said.