The Second Harvest Pop-Up Pantry, which was previously located in the Branham parking lot, moved to the Almaden Hills United Methodist Church this month.

In addition to the location change, the Pop-Up Pantry changed from a drive-through setup to a market-style distribution center, where clients walk through after registering at the front desk.

Hollie Parker-Winzenread, who was formerly the site leader at the Branham location and is now the Almaden Hills United Methodist Church site leader, said that a variety of factors lead to the location change.

“We had cars that would line up in the parking lot, and that sometimes got problematic with when there was a sporting event or kids getting out at the same time that we had a food distribution,” Parker-Winzenread said. “The concern was the amount of space, but also the safety for the clients and for the students and staff.”

The new format and location also expanded the selection of food from roughly five different items to now 10-12 items for clients, according to Parker-Winzenread. The items, received directly from Second Harvest, include vegetables, fruits, dry goods, beverages and more.

For junior Second Harvest volunteer Sumin Choy, another aspect that has changed is client interaction.

“Doing [the market-style distribution] is better than the cars since you could actually directly interact with these individuals who come through and get food,” Choy said. “If I don’t have [interactions], it just feels robotic, but this feels like I’m doing something meaningful.”

Although client participation initially took a dip on the first day at the new site due to the location change and heavy rain, Parker-Winzenread remains hopeful that the new location will attract more community members.

“We expect that the numbers will start to rise as we become known in this community,” she said. “Not only our Branham clients that we love and we honor and we want to serve, but also clients that also may not have been able to get to Branham and are closer to this area. It’s serving an even broader neighborhood.”

The Pop-Up Pantries take place on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month. The next one will be on April 9.

Reporting by Yujin Cho

Second Harvest volunteers Sumin Choy (11) and Brandon Hong (9) help distribute fruits and vegetables.