PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Data show more and more people don’t know what or when their next meal will be.
The Urban League of Palm Beach County and WPTV partnered up to provide meals to hundreds of families on Saturday morning at distribution sites in Belle Glade, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach. More than $50,000 collected helped buy more than 210,000 pounds of fresh food.
For one West Palm Beach resident, Francene Jones, putting food on the table is a top priority.
"The food… the pricing for the food, come on," she said. "It has gone up."
It's clear she's not the only one feeling the impact of the food scarcity hitting South Florida. She said she's always looking for more ways to make sure her loved ones and neighbors are taken care of.
"You got to come together, help each other out," Jones said. "That’s what I do. I go to other food pantries, and what I can’t use, I give to my neighbors next door. She has a house full of kids, but no transportation."
Why is there greater food insecurity?
"The inflation, lack of affordable housing, the ability for families to have viable salaries," Soulan Johnson, who is ULPBC’s vice president of development and marketing, said. "We work with our partners to ensure that we can spread a little joy by providing food at the beginning of the school year for families."
More than 130,000 county residents are facing hunger, and around 40,000 of them are children, according to the Palm Beach County Food Bank.
Similar to Jones, Joann Goldwire of Riviera Beach also could use the food givenaway.
"I just needed a little extra help with my groceries," she said.
People who drove through the University Preparatory Academy parking lot Saturday morning in West Palm Beach received essentials like bread, peanut butter, jelly and other things to get families ready for school.
Meantime, volunteers like Sharon Nunes from the ULPBC Guild noticed food insecurity can impact all parts of our community, including veterans
"We’ve seen people from our military, retired, individuals they’re coming through,” she said.
Nunes, who is president of the guild, said she knows first-hand what it’s like to not know what or when the next time she’d have a full meal would be.
"I've had times in my life when I’ve been hungry," she said. "I just reflect on those times and what it is that I can do."
For Jones, who’s always looking for ways to help her loved ones, this food drive means her family won’t go to sleep hungry.
“They come to my house, they know grandma Fran, Auntie Fran got them,” she said, with a smile on her face after receiving her care package.
ULPBC said they’ll have another event like this in November, just in time for Thanksgiving.
