Restaurants and Grocery Stores Asked to Donate to Boca Helping Hands
Boca Raton, FL – Boca Helping Hands (BHH) received more than 1,400 pounds of food from Ben’s Kosher Delicatessen Restaurant & Caterers, a scratch kitchen in West Boca Raton that makes each meal fresh. When the restaurant closed in observance of Passover, it was left with a large amount of food that would otherwise go to waste. Boca Helping Hands picked up the food on Friday, April 15, offering it to those in need of a meal.
Boca Helping Hands hopes that other restaurants, cafés, and grocery stores will consider donating food to the organization, following in Ben’s Deli’s footsteps.
“We are so pleased to donate the food to Boca Helping Hands to share our holiday with those in need,” said Rachel Stone, Ben’s Deli Director of Catering and Assistant Manager. “It does feel really good to let us extend that notion of feeding people into feeding people who are most in need of a good meal.”
This act of major giving isn’t limited to Ben’s Deli of Boca Raton. Each of the seven New York based locations also participates in food recovery efforts within their communities. “Having grown up living in eight different places by the age of 14, I am hypersensitive to the plight of the homeless and hungry,” said Ronnie Dragoon, Ben’s Deli CEO and Founder.
“Receiving leftover prepared food from Ben’s Deli is a tremendous blessing,” said Bill Harper, BHH Director of Food and Warehouse Operations. “This food is used right away in our hot meal program to feed local families in need. Ben’s has been faithful through the years with their donations at Passover, and we always look forward to this significant assistance. Partnerships with local restaurants are vital to carrying out our mission at Boca Helping Hands.”
“Surging food prices and supply chain issues are affecting all areas of our hunger relief programs. We’re purchasing food to subsidize our decreased inventory, and wholesale prices have increased,” said Greg Hazle, BHH Executive Director. “With increased prices, our client’s dollar stretches less at the grocery store, so they have to rely on us more. Unfortunately, that means Boca Helping Hands has to buy more food at a higher cost.”
Restaurants, cafés, or grocery stores that would like to help can reach out to info@bocahelpinghands.org.
About Boca Helping Hands
Boca Helping Hands (BHH) is a community-based nonprofit that provides food, medical and financial assistance to meet basic human needs as well as education, job training and guidance to create self-sufficiency. Through its various programs, BHH assists over 27,000 people annually.
In 2021, BHH distributed more than 70,000 pantry bags from five Palm Beach County locations and served nearly 80,000 hot meals. The organization expands access to affordable medical, dental and behavioral care through its partnerships with Genesis Community Health (serving clients at clinics in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach) and Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing Community Based Clinics (serving residents in West Palm Beach). In addition, BHH sends weekend meals home with food-insecure elementary school students via the BHH Backpacks Program and assists working families with the rising cost of childcare through the Children’s Assistance Program (CAP).
With an increased focus on client self-sufficiency, BHH awards scholarships for qualified candidates to attend accredited vocational training classes that prepare them for careers in the healthcare, information technology, construction, and transportation industries. BHH also offers free English as a Second Language (ESOL) classes, courses in nutrition, and other life skills. In addition, staff and volunteer mentors counsel the unemployed and underemployed in basic workplace skills and help them polish resumes and search for jobs.
Boca Helping Hands is a partner agency of The Town of Palm Beach United Way. Since 1945, the Town of Palm Beach United Way has been committed to improving lives and building strong communities throughout Palm Beach County by focusing on programs and priorities that promote education, health, and financial stability.
Charity Navigator named Boca Helping Hands a Four-Star Charity for the 15th consecutive year in June 2021. Boca Helping Hands is located at 1500 NW 1st Court, Boca Raton, FL 33432. For more information, please visit BocaHelpingHands.org.