Programs
The Palm Beach County Food Bank operates four programs to provide critical access to food for thousands of hungry Palm Beach County residents. Through partnership with over 100 hunger relief agencies throughout the County, the food we distribute reaches nearly 100,000 individuals in need.
Food Recovery & Distribution
Donation. Sorting. Distribution
The Palm Beach County Food Bank collects, recovers, and distributes food to food pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters in Palm Beach County. A food bank is a supplier and distributor -similar to how Cheney Brothers, Sysco or U.S. Foods serve restaurants and country clubs.
Palm Beach County Food Bank refrigerated trucks pick up and receive donations of food from local farmers, distributors, and retailers. Up to 50% of the product we receive is from the local agricultural community. The food is brought to our 17,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse and sorted by groups of dedicated volunteers. Food is then allocated for distribution at no cost to our partner agencies that directly feed the hungry from their community-based facilities.
Food4OurKids
Fighting hunger. Feeding futures.
Food4OurKids is a year-round weekend feeding program designed to help fill nutritional gaps that children face on weekends throughout the year.
Palm Beach County is the 11th largest school district in the United States, and more than 62% of our school-aged children qualify for free or reduced price lunch. For many of these children, the breakfast and lunch they receive at school may be the only meals they are eating each day. Weekends are especially hard without access to the school breakfast and lunch.
In 2013, the Palm Beach County Food Bank (PBCFB) launched Food4OurKids to help meet the food needs of these families over the summer weekends, when traditionally it is more difficult to access food. In its first summer, the PBCFB served less than 260 children at two summer camp sites. The program has expanded rapidly, and in 2016, we distributed backpacks full of healthy food at 32 summer camp sites to 2,500 children, a total of 205,352 of nutritious food, (that's more than 171,127 meals.)
Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, we extended the program to include weekends year round. This school year, we plan to serve 200 children at two elementary afterschool programs with high rates of free and reduced lunch.
Now sustaining children and their families on weekends throughout the year, we are distributing 217,624 pounds of food or 181,353 meals to children in need in our community!
Marjorie S. Fisher Nutrition Driven
Mobile food pantry. Nutrition education. Fresh food.
The Marjorie S. Fisher Nutrition Driven program is a mobile food pantry that provides nutrition education and fresh foods to food insecure areas of Palm Beach County. In partnership with University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP), Nutrition Driven teaches program participants about core nutritional values, food safety and preparation, simple recipes, and smart shopping tips through an eight module series.
As of December, 2015, the Nutrition Driven program was delivered at 20 sites with 348 participants and a total of 1,418 in program families. These families received education, recipes and more than 35,000 pounds of nutritious food (that's 29,000 meals!)
If your organization is interested in becoming a Nutrition Driven site, please review the Agency Packet and complete the application. For questions, please contact Cady Sandler. Please note that you do not need to be an existing partner agency to partner with us for Nutrition Driven.
Benefits Outreach
The Benefits Outreach Program assists individuals and families in applying for federal food assistance benefits. In Palm Beach County, 195,000+ residents depend on SNAP (food stamps) for daily sustenance. This year, the program secured federal benefits valued at $1.32 million dollars, putting food on the table for close to 2,500 Palm Beach County residents (including over 1,000 children). The Palm Beach County Food Bank Benefits Outreach Specialist is the only non-government employee deputized by the State of Florida to conduct the required food stamp interview on site at the time of application in Palm Beach County. Are you an individual struggling with food insecurity? You may be eligible to receive federal food relief. Click here to learn more.
Success Story
Versie L Holmes resides at Century Village in West Palm Beach since 2012. She was born in August of 1939 in the State of Georgia but she and her husband moved to Florida in the early 50’s. Her husband was a farmer who earned $0.50 an hour and since this was not enough money to make ends meet and provide for their family of nine, she had no choice but to go out of the house to work and also figured out how to maintain household chores.
Although Versie stated that she and family were poor but happy, life has not always been easy for her. Versie had to deal with her husband’s addiction to gambling as well as losing her 13 year old son Carlton to drowning in June of 1971. Despite these and other difficult times, she has kept a positive perspective towards life, overcoming every situation and always moving forward.
A self-taught pianist and singer, Versie has always used these gifts to minister and bring hope to people at nursing homes without asking for anything in return, a mission that is becoming a little difficult now due to her problem with arthritis and diabetes.
Mrs. Versie is very grateful that the Palm Beach County Food Bank “Benefits Outreach Program” is now able to provide SNAP Assistance to her all the residents at Century Village.
