Citing cost, Pierson Town Council rejects Food Brings Hope's request to lease school rooms

PIERSON — The Pierson Town Council has unanimously turned down a nonprofit organization's request to lease space in a vacant former school building, putting at risk local residents' access to food, afterschool programs for children and English classes for their Spanish-speaking parents.

Officials with FBH Community Inc. — a nonprofit organization that has annually provided an estimated $250,000 worth of resources in northwest Volusia County for the past decade — say they've outgrown their current space at a Catholic mission.

After talking with Mayor Samuel Bennett about the concept of moving into the Town Center, the former Pierson Elementary School building now owned by the town, FBH, also known as Food Brings Hope, proposed a low-cost lease, $1 per year for 10 years, with the possibility for 12-month extensions.

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Some town residents and council members opposed lease terms that require the town to pay for utilities and insurance on the building where FBH would be housed. No estimates on those costs were discussed at a packed Town Council meeting Tuesday night.

The town purchased the 5.5-acre parcel and about half of the former school buildings from the Volusia County School Board for $73,000 in 2019.

Pierson has intended to move its town hall into the school building and that hasn't yet happened, said Vice Mayor Robert Greenlund.

"I want you all to understand everybody on this council would not do anything to harm anybody in our community, especially. And we would do everything we can to help them, but I think you're just asking a little too much for this small community simply because we don't have the tax base," he said.

Nika Hosseini, an attorney representing FBH, said the organization might consider leaving Pierson without cooperation from the town.

"If the town would like Food Brings Hope to route every call that we get from your residents to the town itself, we're happy to do that," she said. "... If you don't want these services, we will allocate the quarter of a million dollars to other jurisdictions that are actively asking for them."

To that, some residents in the room applauded, with one responding: "Good, good."

Forough Hosseini: We should not have 'extreme poverty'

Pierson, a town of 1,500 that's considered the "Fernery Capitol of the World," has a per-capita income of $20,000, as compared with Volusia County's, closer to $30,000. One-quarter of its residents live in poverty, as do 35% of the town's children.

Forough Hosseini, founder and chairwoman of FBH Communities, said she started the organization in 2007 in area schools that had the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged pupils. As she became more aware of the needs, Food Brings Hope expanded programs and services.

It started serving Pierson in 2010.

Hosseini said FBH's services are paid for by her family foundation. She is the executive vice president of information systems for ICI Homes, the business led by her husband Mori, and Hosseini said 100% of her income goes to her charity.

"I believe we are only as good as our weakest link. I further believe that in a great country, we should not have any children be homeless, live in extreme poverty or go to bed hungry," she said.

Hosseini, who, like her husband has considerable political clout in Volusia County, said she advocated for the School Board to construct a new Pierson school after learning of the 1926 building's conditions.

And over the years, the goods and services offered by FBH in the Pierson area changed along with the needs, Hosseini said. The organization started in schools with its KidsZone afterschool programs and food pantry.

Food Brings Hope worked to assist high school students enroll in dual enrollment programs at Daytona State College. While parents studied English as a second language through FBH, the organization provided childcare. And when the pandemic hit, the food pantry operation was amended to safely distribute food bags as well as cleaning products, masks, diapers, wipes and baby formula at a drive-through as "the number of clients grew many, many-fold," she said.

FBH has provided appliances and mattresses, clothes and shoes and even iPads and laptops to needy families.

Hosseini apologized for not having previously shared all of the good FBH has done with the town.

"I perhaps incorrectly assumed that in a town of 1,500, you all would know what is going on. I imagined you would know who provides the much-needed resources... who takes care of the hungry and the poor," she said.

In all, FBH assists 1,500 students in 48 programs at 32 sites across Volusia and Flagler counties.

Hosseini asked Town Council members to consider "how fair you have been to a nonprofit that has done so much for your residents."

Proposed lease propagates conspiracy theories, untruths

Bennett, the mayor, said one misnomer in the community is that he was secretly negotiating a lease with Food Brings Hope.

"That's not true. I have publicly announced that I have met with this group," he said.

Bennett said he understands Hosseini's vision but urged FBH to "put something in writing" so the proposal could be reviewed by the entire Town Council.

"Then it was put on Facebook that the mayor has made this agreement and that I worked on the lease. That was a lie," Bennett said. "I never worked on the lease."

Meanwhile, other speculation reached former Volusia County Council Chair Jason Davis, whose property abuts the town.

"The first thing I heard at 11 o'clock this morning was this was a homeless shelter that's going to be right there at the elementary school. We were going to have buses of people from all over," Davis said.

That wasn't true, but Davis said he also understands the town's hesitance in agreeing to pick up the utility and insurance costs.

That was the crux of the issue for Rick Davis, a resident who said Pierson isn't opposed to the social services being provided by Food Brings Hope.

"I applaud your efforts. I think you're wonderful," he said. "We look at this lease agreement and it's strictly an economic problem for us. This town can't afford to do what you're asking us to do."

He also called the old school building "a money pit."

As the town's limited tax base was explained to the Hosseinis, they showed a willingness to negotiate on different terms.

Nika Hosseini suggested the town attorney draft a proposed lease for the purpose of negotiating.

But Linnie Richardson, a new council member in her first meeting, argued the burden of drafting a proposal is on Food Brings Hope.

"I don't think the taxpayer needs to pay (the town attorney) to draft a lease for them when they're the ones coming," Richardson said.

She made a motion to deny the lease and was non-committal on whether she would be open to a different lease.

Nika Hosseini, who is Forough Hosseini's daughter, argued that voting down the lease could lead to a new set of challenges for the town.

"We will let your residents know who to call when they're hungry, when they don't have a place to sleep and when they need help," she said. "And you may want to laugh and make comments... but at the end of the day, the only people you are hurting are yourselves."

But after the vote, Forough Hosseini said she isn't sure what FBH's next move will be.

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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Pierson Town Council rejects Food Brings Hope lease at former school