San Jose health foundation hands off services as CEO leaves

One of Silicon Valley’s premier nonprofit foundations will no longer provide direct community services as its leader steps down amid the sudden change in mission.

Michele Lew, CEO of The Health Trust, first announced the foundation’s decision to hand off its community service programs, including Meals on Wheels and the Food Basket, through a news release in May. But her resignation as CEO was only revealed weeks later through a report requested by Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Susan Ellenberg. Lew announced her resignation one day after the report was made public, and is taking a senior leadership position at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.

Lew directed San José Spotlight to a spokesperson for The Health Trust when reached for comment.

She remains on the foundation’s board, the spokesperson said, and would not have resigned if she didn’t have confidence that The Health Trust and its existing team could continue being of benefit to the community through its ongoing policy advocacy and grant funding.

Interim CEO Amy Chan has been leading the transition of services to outside entities such as the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and nonprofit Loaves & Fishes since June 28.

Chan said the transition to focusing on policy advocacy and grant funding is being made to maximize the nonprofit’s impact on health equity.

“We believe we can better address systemic issues and influence policy changes more effectively by focusing our efforts and leveraging our resources and expertise through grantmaking and advocacy,” she told San José Spotlight. “This transition allows us to amplify our efforts, support a broader range of initiatives and partner with other organizations to tackle the root causes of health disparities. It’s about creating lasting change on a larger scale.”

The nonprofit in 2023 reported assets of more than $126 million. In fiscal year 2023-24 it provided $3.5 million in partnership grants to 22 community agencies in Santa Clara and San Benito counties.

Ellenberg told San José Spotlight when the county learned earlier this year The Health Trust was ending direct services for the HIV community, the public health department quickly created a transitional, sustainable plan ensuring patients would not experience gaps in their care.

As a result, the public health department recently hired former workers from The Health Trust for temporary positions to help transition the HIV/AIDS assistance program to the county.

“HIV services have continued in a relatively seamless manner, and I am appreciative of our public health department’s work,” Ellenberg told San José Spotlight. “I respect The Health Trust leadership that made the decision to return to their original mission and appreciate the lead time they provided to ensure that no client’s care would be compromised as they implement their redesign.”

Next steps

The Health Trust gave Loaves & Fishes a $1.2 million grant along with thousands of dollars more in equipment and infrastructure to aid the food service programs, including Meals on Wheels, the Jerry Larson Food Basket and the Medically-Tailored Meals program — services that mainly benefit older adults.

Loaves & Fishes has hired nearly all of The Health Trust’s food program workers to deliver those services.

But former Loaves & Fishes employees, who spoke with San José Spotlight under the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, shared an email from a program manager to CEO David Hott that said the group has to cut the majority of the Meals on Wheels program by September.

“(Meals on Wheels) has funding for 4,000 meals per month, but an additional 8,000 meals remain unfunded and will need to be removed from service by mid-September,” the email dated July 23 reads.

The email also said staff reductions at Loaves & Fishes should be expected, and Meals on Wheels participants will be asked if they can afford to pay per meal to help alleviate funding challenges.

Hott said the email is an inaccurate recap of an internal meeting.

“Unfortunately, our Meals on Wheels program lost contract funding, and we must reduce meals if new funding is not obtained,” he told San José Spotlight. “We have a phased transition plan between now and December to move unfunded client meals to other organizations in the area that do have Meals on Wheels program funding or direct clients to private pay options.”

Though Loaves & Fishes is experiencing reductions in funding, Hott said, the nonprofit remains focused on providing innovative solutions to serve Santa Clara County effectively.

“At this time, we are actively fundraising, applying for grants and reducing costs within the organization,” he said, adding that people can support the nonprofit by donating on its website. “Currently, we are feeding hundreds of seniors through the Meals on Wheels program who would otherwise be left to fend for themselves, but the demand is greater than the supply.”

Chan said The Health Trust is unaware of any service issues at Loaves & Fishes, and the nonprofit encourages Loaves & Fishes to apply for grants if it’s experiencing funding challenges.

“We do understand that new/additional fundraising efforts would be required to sustain the ongoing (Meals on Wheels) services for unfunded clients,” she told San José Spotlight. “During our conversations with (Loaves & Fishes), they were well aware of The Health Trust’s fundraising campaigns and the development efforts we deployed to get additional support for unfunded (Meals on Wheels) clients.”

Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X, formerly known as Twitter.