The print story ran in The Mercury News this summer.
San Jose State researchers recently published the annual Silicon Valley Pain Index.
The report measures income inequality in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
It looked at key indicators like housing, wage gaps, and other criteria.
It found that 28% of households surveyed can't meet their most basic needs in Silicon Valley, and 600 families become homeless every year in Santa Clara County.
Some leaders of food banks like Second Harvest, say they're serving food to around half a million people a month.
That's doubled the number of people since before the pandemic.
I wanted listeners to meet the people behind those numbers. So I recently made a trip down to the Lighthouse, a free food distribution program run by the Lighthouse Church in San Jose.
I visited the lighthouse on a June afternoon just as the pantry was opening.
Ten people were in a line that extended around the corner. One of those people was Randy Camargo, who is 57. He explained how he became homeless about four months ago.
RANDY CAMARGO: Unfortunately I was going through a divorce and she just put my whole life upside down.
I was in a housing program and I got abused. I was a, I got beat up in the program and got kicked out, so I'm going through a. A rough time right now.
ANDREW DONG: Now he spends most of his time near Milpitas. He had used an abandoned bike he'd found by the side of the road to get to the Lighthouse Food Pantry. I also spoke to Brian Escobar, an immigrant from Columbia. He moved to San Jose six months ago and got a job to support his family and children.
Escobar told me that he has to be especially frugal when he buys everyday items like food and clothing.
Both Camargo and Escobar feel thankful for the aid that they get in San Jose.
RANDY CAMARGO: We have lots of resources here in San Jose. The lighthouse is good. We have the Harvest Food Bank. There's all kinds of places. The Salvation Army to help out the homeless and people in need. It's wonderful. Yeah, we're very lucky to live here in San Jose. Santa Clara County has a good program for helping out.
ANDREW DONG: In San Jose. I'm Andrew Dong.