Peppers have been picked for needy families
Volunteers Kathy Cochrane of Palm Springs (left) and Maryrose Feliu of Wellington sort green peppers to distribute to needy families at the Palm Beach County Food Bank in Lantana on Monday. Palm Beach County Food Bank trucks pick up and receive donations of food from local farmers, distributors, and retailers. Up to 50 percent of the produce it receives is from the local agricultural community. Much of it is picked by volunteers gleaning food from local agricultural fields through the cooperation of local farmers.
Food is brought to the Palm Beach County Food Bank’s 17,000-square-foot warehouse and sorted by volunteers, where it is allocated for distribution at no cost to more than 125 partner agencies that feed the hungry from their community-based facilities. Summer is when the need for food to feed the hungry is at its highest. It is also the time of the year when access to donations is the lowest due to many of the 60 percent of local school children who receive breakfast and lunch at school through free and low-cost meal programs not having access to that food during the summer months. In addition, many local residents travel during the summer so food donations are reduced. Also, gleaning is reduced as the winter growing season in South Florida ends.
To fill this gap, residents who are leaving for the summer are invited to donate their unopened non-perishable food to the Palm Beach County Food Bank at 525 Gator Drive in Lantana.