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Bronx Church May Face Eviction After Health Violations Found in Food Pantry

 The Osborne Association is attempting to evict the Word of Life Church again.
Word of Life Church Eviction
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MORRISANIA — A South Bronx church known for its food drives is facing eviction yet again in the wake of a city inspection that found unsanitary conditions in its food pantry.

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene inspected the pantry at Word of Life International Church on April 17 and found evidence of fresh rat droppings, spoiled food and holes in the ceiling where rodents could enter, according to an agency spokesman.

"Despite Word of Life having more than a week to clean their facility in anticipation of an inspection, the DOHMH found that conditions were unsanitary and unsafe," said Jonathan Stenger, spokesman for The Osborne Association, the church's landlord. "Osborne has worked as a not-for-profit agency in this community for 25 years and believes that our neighbors deserve safe and hygienic food."

Osborne has terminated the church's lease and is proceeding to evict Word of Life as its tenant after the church refused to let Osborne inspect the building's facilities, going against its lease, Stenger said. 

The nonprofit, which works with currently and formerly incarcerated people, said they have been rebuffed every time they tried to examine the building since the church moved in, which also goes against an April court agreement between the two parties. 

The two organizations have a tumultuous history, as they were previously involved in a court case over issues of back rent that was settled in April, when a judge ruled that Word of Life could stay in the building if it paid Osborne the roughly $58,000 it was owed, which the church honored.

An Osborne employee had previously tried to evict the church by smashing in its door with a sledgehammer on Good Friday.

The Rev. John Udo-Okon, pastor at Word of Life, maintained that he had given Osborne access to the food pantry and that an exterminator has been coming every other week since the Health Department's inspection. He indicated that his church would not leave the building quietly.

"If they want to start the process again, that's their choice," he said. "That means we're going to go back to court with them."

The church is already facing issues with its popular food drives, as the Food Bank For New York City and City Harvest have stopped supplying it with goods after finding out about food safety issues at the pantry, according to Udo-Okon.

There are still several containers of food at the church, which it had gotten from sources like schools and neighborhood residents, but Udo-Okon said they are providing only "skeletal services" at this point.

"When you think of the number of people we serve, this food can go in a day," he said, noting that the organization's food drives typically attract between 700 and 1,000 people.

The departure of the Food Bank and City Harvest also mean that the church no longer receives fresh produce, apart from a few remaining containers of vegetables like onions and squash that a community member brought over, Udo-Okon said.

He characterized this as a particularly harmful development for the South Bronx community the church serves, given its need for healthy food.

"I feel bad that I have to give candies and things that I'm trying to discourage," he said.

City Harvest Senior Director of Program Operations Leslie Gordon said her company was working on a plan to start supplying Word of Life with food again and that they had tried to get more food to nearby spots in the meantime.

"We’ve worked with other proximate emergency food organizations to ensure that there is an increased level of food flowing where his clients can access it," she said.

The Food Bank for New York City could not immediately be reached for comment.

Despite Word of Life's newly limited food supply, Udo-Okon said people still line up outside the church in hope of receiving food.

"They'll still be there," he said, "hoping that maybe, somehow, Santa Claus will show up."