United Way of Palm Beach County

Yesterday's City of Boca Raton's inaugural Firecracker 5K was a star-spangled success! It was a beautiful day that brought together nearly 550 runners, including our Senior Director of MISSION UNITED, Jonathan Oakley, to race through Florida Atlantic University. All proceeds from the run benefited MISSION UNITED. MISSION UNITED, a United Way signature initiative, connects military veterans and their families with the support needed to lead fulfilling, healthy lives after completing military service. Special thanks to the City of Boca Raton and their Community Events Coordinator, Richard Mahler, for their partnership and incredible support!

Members from our Hunger Relief Team made their way to Washington, D.C. last month to attend Food Research & Action Center's National Anti-Hunger Conference. They advocated alongside other anti-hunger champions from across the country to help better fight hunger in Palm Beach County!

When school lets out, Summer BreakSpot comes in! To help ensure that Florida children have access to wholesome meals during summer break, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services partners with schools and organizations to provide free meals to kids and teens. Sites in Palm Beach County are currently open. To find a site near you, call 2-1-1, text "FOOD" or "COMIDA" to 304-304, or visit SummerBreakSpot.org.

Each year on or around June 21, thousands of people across the globe come together to volunteer with United Way for our Day of Action. This year's Day of Action was a huge success thanks to the volunteers from BDO and our community who completed two projects that will benefit those in Palm Beach County. Volunteers are at the heart of what we do and we thank them for taking action and making an impact with us!

We commemorated Juneteenth with a volunteer project to honor freedom and resilience. Our partner for this special project was Gilbane Building Company and their employees connected with their local chapter of Ujima in Boca Raton. Their fantastic volunteers assembled 75 hygiene care kits that will be donated to children in the foster care system through Children's Home Society of Florida and ChildNet, Inc. These kits were designed for children of color and their specific needs. This was Gilbane's very first volunteer project, and we thank the Gilbane team for trusting us as your partner for this milestone and for making a difference in Palm Beach County!

According to the Department of Education, the more students read or are read to for fun on their own time and at home, the higher their reading scores, generally. There's still time to get books into the hands of children in our community through the Summer BreakSpot program by donating new or gently used books to Palm Beach County Food Bank on weekdays between 8:00am-3:30pm through July 1st. Thank you to our Vice President of Philanthropy, Paula McLeod, for supporting the book drive by hosting an evening of literacy with friends and special guest, author Diane Bergner!

Our latest Impact Tour featured Grey Team, an organization whose mission is to reduce and eliminate military suicides by building and implementing solutions for active-duty U.S. soldiers and military veterans. Since its founding in 2016, Grey Team has worked with nearly 800 veterans and zero have been lost to suicide. Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to tour the facility, explore recovery tools, and gain a deeper insight into the life-saving services they provide. One healing technique used is photobiomodulation. This red-light therapy uses specific wavelengths of light to stimulate biological processes within the body. When tissues absorb light at these wavelengths, it triggers the body's natural healing processes. We're proud to support Grey Team and the transformative work they do in our community. Learn more at https://www.greyteam.org.

Filled with the essentials and an inspirational message, 300 hygiene kits were assembled and are ready to be donated to Families First of Palm Beach County thanks to NCCI and Milagro Foundation, Inc. (Milagro Center) volunteers! Thank you to all of the volunteers for radiating positivity and supporting the great work and mission of Families First.

The doors are officially open and the ribbon has been cut to the Alpert Jewish Family Service Enrichment Center! Featuring a client choice pantry with commercial refrigeration and cold storage for fresh food, Alpert JFS is making strides to end food insecurity in our community. The Enrichment Center will also be home to several other vital programs and services. Thank you to Congresswoman Lois Frankel for joining us in supporting the incredible work Alpert JFS has done and will continue to do with this new addition.

Spending just one hour a week with a mentor can help a child become 81% more likely to participate regularly in sports or extracurricular activities and 55% more likely to be enrolled in college. Mentors truly help shape the future and we're thankful to the wonderful programs who joined us last week at our Mentor Recruitment Lunch & Learn to help share this message with Palm Beach County employees. Special thanks to the Palm Beach County Youth Services Department for their partnership and support! To learn more about our mentoring program, please visit https://ow.ly/wCUC50SoImK.