From home-cooked meals and restaurant orders to uneaten food in refrigerators and pantries, what people can’t consume often goes into the garbage.
Then they load up their shopping carts and start the cycle again.
But not far from Palm Beach, too many people don’t have enough to eat. Inflation, rising grocery prices and soaring housing costs are making it tough to find the money for food. Pets also often go hungry.
Indeed, inconsistent access to food is a problem for many communities.
To address that persistent and growing need, the Town of Palm Beach United Way’s Empty Your Pantry Food Drive is again providing a helping hand.
The drive began as a simply way to encourage residents heading north for the summer months to round up pantry items to give to their neighbors in need. But it has evolved into a critical segment of the mission to feed the hungry in Palm Beach County.
Read more: Town of Palm Beach United Way’s 12th annual Empty Your Pantry Food Drive begins March 30
Through April 20, the drive will collect non-perishable food items, monetary donations and pet food for the county’s most food-vulnerable people.
“Food shortages are an ongoing issue in our community, especially during the summer months,” United Way Board Chair Richard Rothschild has said.
That rising need comes as the federal government — shamefully — cuts U.S. Department of Agriculture funding to two federal programs that provided money to schools and food banks so they could buy food from local farms and ranches.
Read more: ‘Food insecurity just going to increase’: How Palm Beach County food banks will fare with cuts
Three nonprofits will benefit from this year’s United Way drive: CROS Ministries, which runs five food pantries throughout the county; the Glades Initiative, which provides food to more than 3,000 people a month in the Glades agricultural region; and the Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League.
“Many residents work really hard, and due to low wages and high cost of living, they still do not earn enough to feed their families,” Karis Engle, president and CEO of the Glades Initiative, said recently. “We consider food of major importance to good health.”
When residents empty their pantries or make donations to help those who don’t have enough to eat, they also help improve the well-being of the extended community.
Many already have donated to this worthy drive, now in its 12th year. There’s still a week left, and if you haven’t given yet, there’s still time.
Thanks to everyone who helps meet that most crucial need of all: Having enough to eat.
Food donations can be dropped off in Palm Beach at: Fire Station 1, 355 S. County Road; Fire Station 3, 2185 S. Ocean Blvd.; the United Way office, 44 Cocoanut Row; or Field of Greens locations including at 261 Royal Poinciana Way, Palm Beach; 412 Clematis St., West Palm Beach; 4802 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach; and 777 S. Flagler Drive, Suite 108, West Palm Beach.
Residents can make a monetary donation online at www.palmbeachunitedway.org/food-drive; or mail a check, payable to Town of Palm Beach United Way with “Food Drive” in the memo, to the United Way office at 44 Cocoanut Row, Suite M201, Palm Beach, FL 33480.
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