Bike theft hinders farm box program

One of the best success stories to come out of the pandemic last year was Eastside Connect, a farm box program run by Veggielution, the community farm at Emma Prusch Farm Box in San Jose.

Volunteers, coordinated by the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, delivered boxes to East San Jose residents on bikes with custommade trailers. And the cyclists — most of whom were not from East San Jose neighborhoods — were partnered with local residents who knew the area and could talk to them about the challenges the community faces.

But a couple weeks ago, a supply container at the farm was broken into and three bikes with trailers were stolen. “It’s not the first time this has happened,” said Emily Schwing, Veggielution’s public affairs director, but she noted that ” it has been more than a year” since the farm has had a break-in. She added that Veggielution wants to work with agencies like Destination: Home to build up community resources that would make people less likely to take the bikes to begin with. “They took something they probably really need, especially for someone who doesn’t have transportation or housing,” she said.

And, as far as the bike coalition is concerned, this will just be a bump in the road.

“While this is unfortunate, it will not deter us from continuing, on schedule, to implement the program,” Shiloh Ballard, executive director of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, said in