Hunger Relief Monthly Update
November 2021
The Hunger Relief Team is excited to bring you a transformed Hunger Relief Monthly Update! It contains all the same great information you're used to, in a new, refreshed format. Want to give us feedback on the new look? Please feel free to send us an email.

Every month we provide you with the latest news about Hunger Relief in Palm Beach County. Information is current as of November 19, 2021. Check out what's new and learn about ongoing Hunger Relief work.
NEW FOR NOVEMBER
  • UWPBC Food Storage Capacity Grant OPEN: UWPBC has opened the application for the Food Storage Capacity Grant, which will provide funding to agencies who would like to increase their cold and/or dry storage capacity. For more information and to apply, please visit our website. The deadline to apply is December 6th. 

  • American Heart Association (AHA) Wellness Grant OPEN: AHA has opened their application for their faith-based Wellness Grant, which will provide education and help in creating healthier environments and choices in faith-based congregations. For more information and to apply, please visit the application website. The deadline to apply is December 10th.

  • PBC Community Services grocery cards: grocery store gift cards are available to eligible Palm Beach County residents who have not received assistance before. For more information please visit the application website.   

  • The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP): Beginning October 1, 2021, Farm Share became the administrator of the TEFAP contract, under Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) and USDA. Palm Beach County is now categorized as its own region, Region 17. Supply chain issues have resulted in a slower start to available TEFAP food in Palm Beach County than expected. The amount of available TEFAP food is expected to increase over the next few months. 
COVID-19
  • Palm Beach County COVID-19 Updates: Palm Beach County is offering regular updates, news, and resources through its COVID-19 webpage.

  • COVID-19 PSAs: United Way of Palm Beach County, in partnership with Palm Beach County, Florida Department of Health, and 2-1-1, developed a Public Service Announcement (PSA) tool to educate the community about key information regarding COVID-19 and connect them with resources offered in the County. The PSA is available in English, Spanish, and Creole and can be used widely by organizations such as businesses, food distribution sites, and social service agencies. The audio file can be downloaded by clicking HERE. Please contact jankowc@pbclibrary.org to resolve access issues or to share how you are putting this resource to use. 

  • Impower Cope with COVID: Free telehealth mental health and substance abuse counseling, medication, and services for low-income families and individuals needing help as a result of the pandemic are available through IMPOWER, a Florida non-profit organization. To qualify for services, individuals must be uninsured, underinsured, be at 150% of the Federal Poverty Level, and have been impacted by COVID-19. Services available for Florida residents of any age. To get started, you can visit www.impowerfl.org or call 321-639-1224. 
GENERAL HUNGER RELIEF
  • Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap: Food insecurity projections for Palm Beach County show that Palm Beach County Food insecurity numbers are back to pre-pandemic levels and slightly lower.
  • Food Finder Map: The Food Finder Map is an interactive tool developed by UWPBC Hunger Relief to help people seeking food resources easily connect to sites near them. Information is English, Spanish, and Creole. UWPBC updates the information listed on this map weekly. However, locations and hours of distribution may change. Please consider calling the site prior to visiting to verify information listed. Please note that sites may have specific requirements such as ID. As of November 17th, there were over 130,000 views of the map.

  • Hunger Relief Department: Hunger Relief staff are partnering with community partners within and outside our network to address short term, midterm, and long-term needs of the Palm Beach County communities. We are also tracking information and data available through our networks and partnerships. In addition to facilitating Hunger Relief meetings, the Hunger Relief team attends several community meetings to stay abreast of community needs including the COVID-19 Funding Coalition; Birth to 22 Steering Committee; CAC/HHS 2021 Regular Committee; CHIP; FDACS Food Security Advisory Council (FSAC); Florida Policy Institute Safety Net Advisory Committee (SNAC); and Palm Beach County PIDC. 
CHILDREN & FAMILIES
  • School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC): Breakfast and lunch meals are FREE to ALL SDPBC students every school day in 2021-2022! SDPBC has served over 11.8 million meals during the school year so far.

  • Childhood Work Group: final numbers of meals served during summer 2021 will be available soon.

  • 0-4 Subcommittee: The 0-4 Subcommittee has been focused on developing a WIC Outreach Plan. Accomplishments include a new video, “What is WIC?” and designing palm cards to distribute to families in English, Spanish and Creole. To watch the video and find a local WIC office, please visit our website. 

  • Weekend Backpack Subcommittee: More than 59 locations received Weekend Backpacks for school year 2020-2021, serving 6,359 children for an average of 25 weeks (number includes children funded by The Jim Moran Foundation and The Batchelor Foundation).

  • Year-Round Meal Program: UWPBC Hunger Relief received a grant from The Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation in support of year-round meals. FLIPANY engaged 48 year-round Grab ‘n Go sites and served 308,220 meals. FLIPANY also onboarded three sites in the Afterschool Meals program – the City of Greenacres Community Center, Pahokee Deliverance, and The Duo Center. They anticipate 120 children will be served afterschool meals through the program.  

  • Mobile Summer Meal Program: UWPBC Hunger Relief received a grant from Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County in support of FLIPANY’s Mobile Summer BreakSpot program. FLIPANY served 19,833 meals to 315 children in The Glades during summer 2021 through the program and provided nutrition education workshops to 120 children.
SENIORS
  • Drop and Go Meals: The partnership between Area Agency on Aging (AAA), The Volen Center, and Palm Beach County Division of Senior Services delivered 32,637 meals in October. Seniors who need food should contact the Elder Helpline at 866-684-5885 or they can call 2-1-1 who will direct them.

  • Meals on Wheels of the Palm Beaches, Inc. (MOWPB): MOWPB serves hot meals three days/week and fresh frozen meals on the remaining days. MOWPB has been serving 2,500 meals a week to 300 people. MOWPB serves those individuals aged 65 and over who are home bound due to age, infirmity or debilitating illness and are unable or struggling to food shop and prepare nutritious meals. Their clients are either living alone, or with their spouse/partner who may also be home bound or who may be the fulltime caregiver. To set up service please call (561) 802-6979, extension 6.

  • Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office (PBSO): PBSO has a program to assist our Palm Beach County elderly residents who are unable to leave their homes to go to the grocery store or the pharmacy. PBSO volunteers are ready to deliver orders directly to their doors. This program is available ONLY in areas where PBSO has jurisdiction. Fore more information, please go to PBSO's website.
SNAP OUTREACH & ADVOCACY
  • Apply for SNAP Benefits: DCF’s Statewide Customer Call Center (850-300-4323) is available for customer questions and application assistance, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon; and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The fastest way to get information and apply for benefits is online. Customers can report changes, upload documents, and check the status of their application and benefits through their MyACCESS Self-Service Portal. DCF continues to work quickly to process the growing number of applications as a result of COVID-19. For a complete list of eligibility requirements for SNAP visit DCF's website.

  • Apply for SNAP Benefits through Palm Beach County Food Bank (PBCFB): PBCFB works with a network of community partners to help individuals, families, and seniors apply for SNAP benefits. PBCFB’s Benefits Specialists speak English, Spanish, Creole, and some Mayan dialects. The calendar of times and locations for appointments, and lists with the documents needed for appointments can be found on the Food Bank’s website.

  • Maximum Monthly Allotment & Changes to SNAP Household Monthly Benefits: Starting October 1, 2021, SNAP benefits were automatically increased by 6% as a result of a change to the 'Thrifty Food Plan'. Visit DCF's website for more specific information on this increase.
  
  • SNAP Online Purchasing: SNAP recipients may purchase groceries online with the use of an EBT card. They are automatically eligible to participate in this program and do not need to apply. As of May 2021, participating retailers include Walmart, Amazon, ALDI, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Publix. For more information on the online purchasing pilot, please refer to the Online Purchasing Pilot FAQs.

  • P-EBT Advocacy: Thanks to collective advocacy efforts, the State of Florida requested more than $1 billion in Summer P-EBT benefits for 2.6 million kids. The request was approved by USDA on September 27, 2021. P-EBT benefits are expected to be disbursed beginning in mid-November. For more information visit USDA's website about Florida P-EBT.
INFRASTRUCTURE
  • Pantry Project: UWPBC Hunger Relief staff continues to hold follow-up meetings, organized by Palm Beach County’s designated Emergency Operations Areas (EOAs), to regularly convene the pantries and develop communication and coordination strategies and identify ways to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and increase capacity. The pantries are addressing specific needs/costs for storage, IT, and capital improvement. Transportation recommendation has been finalized.

  • Improving Resource & Referral Needs: UWPBC Hunger Relief, Palm Beach County, and 211 are currently meeting and working on coordination necessary for a shared data source to store food distribution site data and other social service resources for most accurate and up-to-date information.                                    

  • Healthy Corner Stores Initiative: The initiative continues to work with Sam’s Food Store, Canal Point. Sam’s offers fresh produce and ready to eat fresh options like salads to go and healthy wraps to its customers. A local marketing campaign is underway.

  • Farmers Helping Families: Hunger Relief is working with United Farmers Alliance (UFA) Farmers Helping Families, a group of Palm Beach County farmers, working on solutions to get product from the farms to the at-risk communities in Palm Beach County. UFA is working with FDACS and helping farmers register on myflorida.com so their products can be sold to FDACS and other entities. UFA is also partnering with Feed the Hungry, Boca Helping Hands, Feeding Palm Beach County (Feeding South Florida) and Palm Beach Harvest, and others to help get food into our community. UFA/Farmers Helping Families is approved to accept SNAP/EBT and Fresh Access Bucks.

  • Farm Donations: There is much information on what the farmers in the Glades have been contributing to the County, School District of Palm Beach County, and food banks (Feeding South Florida, Palm Beach County Food Bank, etc.) for distribution. Their information is available on their social media and EAA Farmers information. Florida Crystals continues to donate rice and sugar to local organizations.
We couldn't do this work without you!

The Hunger Relief Team is so appreciative of everything you do for our community. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime by calling us at 561-375-6600 or emailing us.
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