Boca Helping Hands will provide weekend meals to more than 1,100 underserved kids during the 2021-2022 academic year, including students from Boca Raton Elementary School, Boca Raton Community Middle School, Citrus Cove Elementary School, Coral Sunset Elementary School, Crosspointe Elementary School, Del Prado Elementary School, Hammock Pointe Elementary School, Orchard View Elementary School, Poinciana Elementary School, and S.D. Spady Elementary School.
The Boca Helping Hands (BHH) Backpacks program has provided weekend meals to local students for the past 10 years. Many of these students receive their primary weekday meals (free breakfast and free or reduced-cost lunches) at school. About 60% of schoolchildren in Palm Beach County are eligible to receive free or reduced-cost lunches.
While school was out over the summer, Boca Helping Hands continued to send home weekend meals with local kids. In recent weeks, 300 kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Delray Beach and Boca Raton and 150 kids at the Achievement Centers for Children & Families received six meals, two shelf-stable milks, two juice boxes, and three snacks each Friday.
This past academic year, Boca Helping Hands received the Gold Award from The School District of Palm Beach County as the Non-for-Profit Business Partner of the year. Boca Helping Hands was nominated by Crosspointe Elementary in Boynton Beach, which began receiving weekend meals for 50 students three years ago but has seen a drastic increase in need during the pandemic.
“The impact BHH has had on our students and our community is unmatched,” said Courtney Roper, Parent Liaison at Crosspointe Elementary. “The kids look forward to receiving these boxes and often stop me to ask, ‘Is today the food box day?’”
“Boca Helping Hands are like silent angels who sneak in, deliver the boxes, and quietly go about their day,” she said.
For more information on how to support the program, visit BocaHelpingHands.org/BHHBackpacks. To volunteer and help pack weekend meals, visit BocaHelpingHands.org/Volunteer.