One of Silicon Valley’s most prominent charitable foundations will cease its direct charitable services as its director resigns amid a sudden change in goals.

Michele Lew, CEO of The Health Trust, first announced the foundation’s decision to divest its charitable programs, including Meals on Wheels and Food Basket, in a press release in May. However, her resignation as CEO was not made public until weeks later through a report requested by Susan Ellenberg, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Lew announced her resignation one day after the report was released and is taking a senior position at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.

When asked for comment, Lew referred San José Spotlight to a spokesperson for The Health Trust.

She will remain on the foundation’s board, the spokeswoman said, and would not have resigned if she was not convinced that The Health Trust and its existing team could continue to benefit the community through their ongoing political engagement and grantmaking.

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

Chan said the focus will now be on policy advocacy and grants to maximize the nonprofit’s impact on health equity.

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

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

Ellenberg told San José Spotlight that when the county learned earlier this year that The Health Trust would be ending its direct services to the HIV community, the health department quickly created a sustainable transition plan to ensure there would be no gaps in care for patients.

For this reason, the Health Department recently hired former Health Trust employees for temporary positions to assist in the transition of the HIV/AIDS outreach program to the county.

“HIV services have continued relatively seamlessly and I am grateful for the work of our health department,” Ellenberg told San José Spotlight. “I respect the Health Trust leadership for choosing to return to their original mission and appreciate the lead time they have provided to ensure that care for all clients will not be compromised as they implement their redesign.”

Next Steps

The Health Trust awarded Loaves & Fishes a $1.2 million grant and thousands more dollars for equipment and infrastructure to support meal programs, including Meals on Wheels, the Jerry Larson Food Basket and the Medically-Tailored Meals program – services that primarily benefit the elderly.

Loaves & Fishes has hired almost all of The Health Trust’s food program staff to provide these services.

But former Loaves & Fishes employees, who spoke to San José Spotlight on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, shared an email from a program manager to CEO David Hott saying the group would have to largely eliminate the Meals on Wheels program by September.

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

The email also said that Loaves & Fishes was expecting staff cuts and that Meals on Wheels participants would be asked if they could afford to pay per meal to help alleviate funding challenges.

Hott said the email was an inaccurate summary of an internal meeting.

“Unfortunately, our Meals on Wheels program has lost its contract funding and we will have to reduce meals unless new funding is provided,” he told San José Spotlight. “We have a phased transition plan from now through December to transfer unfunded meals for clients to other organizations in the area that have Meals on Wheels program funding or refer clients to private payment options.”
Although Loaves & Fishes is facing funding cuts, Hott said the nonprofit remains focused on providing innovative solutions to effectively support Santa Clara County.

“Right now 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, through the Meals on Wheels program, we are providing meals to hundreds of seniors who would otherwise be on their own, but demand is greater than supply.”

Chan said the Health Trust was not aware of any service issues at Loaves & Fishes and the nonprofit encouraged Loaves & Fishes to apply for grants if funding issues arose.

“We understand that new/additional fundraising efforts are needed to maintain ongoing (Meals on Wheels) services for unfunded clients,” she told San José Spotlight. “During our discussions with (Loaves & Fishes), they were well aware of the Health Trust’s fundraising efforts and the development efforts we have undertaken to obtain additional support for unfunded (Meals on Wheels) clients.”