PALM BEACH, Fla. — A new study by Helpadvisor.com did research throughout the United States to find the most charitable ZIP codes in the country.
The study used numbers from statistics of income-tax return data from the Internal Revenue Service for the 2019 tax returns year.
It was based on which city in each state accounts for the highest amount of money claimed as charitable contributions and which city in every state is home to the highest percentage of residents claiming charitable contributions.
Four Florida ZIP codes made the top 25 list:
- No. 1 was ZIP code 33109 in Miami Beach, accounting for $184.4K in charitable contributions.
- No. 3 was ZIP code 33480 in Palm Beach, accounting for $93.4K in charitable contributions.
- No. 16 was ZIP code 34102 in Naples, accounting for $36K in charitable contributions.
- No. 24 was ZIP code 32963 Vero Beach, accounting $27.6K in charitable contributions.
"So, I have to say, Palm Beach County is the most amazing place to live and is really the portrait of a paradox, where one side of the street you have people who could be homeless, and on the other side of the street you have people living in mansions and really enjoying the luxuries of life," said Anne Noble, the chief advancement officer with the Lord's Place. "What I find so amazing is that here in Palm Beach County you have both sides, and you have some of the most charitable and wonderful people who look out their windows and see people who are suffering and really want to do something to help."
Jennifer Chiarenza, with the Palm Beach County Food Bank, said last year alone the food bank distributed 17 million pounds of food, which equates to some $30 million worth of food.
But the pandemic has taken its toll and last year the need for food grew 35%.
"It's everyone. You, me, anybody can be a victim of this, but we're here for everyone. It doesn't matter," said Chiarenza. "You can rest assured the Palm Beach County Food Bank isn't going anywhere."
Organizations like the Lord's Place have been around for 40 years and the pandemic has presented new challenges.
"At the Lord's Place, we find a lot of hurdles, but the biggest hurdle is finding affordable housing to live in," said Noble. "We continue to fund raise and we continue to hope to find affordable housing for people."
The Lord's Place serves about 1,800 people and, with its mission to end homelessness, welcomes any help it can get.
"Whether someone wants to come and be a volunteer or do a donation drive or provide their financial help, we just welcome them with open arms, because there's so much they can do for the agency and the community," said Noble.