(L-R) Jacqueline Martin, Heather Roman, Meghan Shea, Renata Wozniak, Kerri Crowell and Tina Kelly.
Boca Helping Hands (BHH) has partnered with six public schools to provide food-insecure elementary students with weekend meals for the remainder of the school year. The BHH Backpacks Program will ensure that 348 children stay fed when they head home on Fridays, with additional schools potentially joining later in the year.
(front to back) Heather Roman, Kerri Crowell and Renata Wozniak
During the pandemic, instead of receiving backpacks full of food at the end of each week and returning empty backpacks the following week to fill again, each child now brings home a “backpack in a box” each Friday filled with six meals, three snacks, two juice boxes, and two shelf-stable milks. The currently participating schools are located in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.
(clockwise from bottom left) Heather Roman, Renata Wozniak and Tina Kelly
“Without this help, these children might not have enough to eat over the weekend. We’re pleased to be able to provide these meals,” said Greg Hazle, Executive Director of Boca Helping Hands.
(left to right) Jacqueline Martin and Heather Roman
When schools closed in the spring due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Boca Helping Hands provided its remaining Backpack food for the 2019-2020 school year to the Achievement Centers for Children and Families and Boys and Girls Club of Boca Raton so that that the kids in those programs would continue to have food over the weekend. Those meal distributions continued over the summer.
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.
BHH distributes 80,000 pantry bags each year at four Palm Beach County locations and serves over 70,000 hot meals annually, six days per week. The organization expands access to affordable medical, dental and behavioral care through its partnership with Genesis Community Health, serving clients at clinics in Boca Raton and Boynton Beach. 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, transportation, and hospitality industries. BHH also offers free English as a Second Language (ESOL) classes and courses in nutrition and other life skills. Staff and volunteer mentors counsel the unemployed and underemployed in basic workplace skills and help them polish resumes and search for jobs.
Charity Navigator named Boca Helping Hands a Four-Star Charity for the 14th Consecutive Year. Boca Helping Hands is located at 1500 NW 1st Court, Boca Raton, FL 33432. For more information, please visit bocahelpinghands.org.
