November 19, 2021
(San Jose, CA) – Team San Jose, the nonprofit economic development organization managing the San Jose McEnery Convention Center and the San Jose Theaters, surpasses 1.1 million meals served to the South Bay community during the pandemic. In recognition for the organization’s efforts during the pandemic, Team San Jose is the recipient of the 2021 Community Impact Award by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
The number of meals served is part of a City of San Jose partnership that contracts Team San Jose to prepare and distribute meals to temporary housing shelters and sites across Santa Clara County. Team San Jose has been preparing and delivering three meals a day, with one daily hot entrée since April 2020. In addition, meals accommodate special dietary restrictions, including vegetarian, vegan, diabetic and low sodium options. At its peak, Team San Jose served 22,000 meals per week delivering to 20 locations, in additional to offering pick up options at San Jose Convention Center.
Preparing over 1.1 million meals requires a record amount of fresh ingredients sourced from local vendors and distributors. To date, Team San Jose has cooked over 70,000 pounds of pasta, 68,000 pounds of ground beef and roughly 41,000 pounds of vegetables.
Team San Jose meeting and event facilities were closed due to County public health order for most of the pandemic. However, involvement of these essential activities created employment for formerly laid off staff in the Food & Beverage and Operations departments. The work has generated over 46,000 employee hours for union partner Local 19 alone.
The pivot made by Team San Jose from a convention powerhouse to community resource was celebrated by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Last week, Team San Jose was one of four recipients honored with the 2021 Community Impact Award where Team San Jose’s positive contributions were recognized– preparing over 1.1 million city meals and counting, turning over facilities into temporary housing shelters, coordinating wildfire evacuee accommodations with hotel partners, as well as ongoing efforts in the economic recovery of Downtown and overall travel to San Jose.
“We always thought that the heart of Team San Jose is San Jose,” John LaFortune, President and CEO of Team San Jose, told the publication. “We had to make that pivot to change our mission... It’s meant a lot to be able to give back to the community and really make a difference in so many people’s lives. That’s been really rewarding.”
For more information about Team San Jose, visit www.sanjose.org.
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Team San Jose is an innovative partnership unifying the San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau, hotels, arts, community business leaders, labor and public venues to deliver an exceptional visitor experience and serve as the gateway to San Jose as a destination. Team San Jose is the parent company of Visit San Jose, the city’s official destination marketing organization. Team San Jose also manages the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, South Hall, and arts and entertainment venues including the California Theatre, the Center for Performing Arts, Montgomery Theater, and San Jose Civic. In addition, Team San Jose created and operates a full-service catering facility that serves as the official caterer in all TSJ managed venues. Team San Jose is a non-profit, economic development organization and the primary driver in generating economic impact to San Jose’s local economy through leisure and business travel. For more information, visit www.sanjose.org.
| Frances Wong |
| Director of Marketing & Communications, Team San Jose |
| E: fwong@sanjose.org |
