A South Florida food bank is serving 17% more people while distributing significantly less food, one year after the federal government eliminated a $420 million program that supplied local food banks with fresh, healthy groceries.
Boca Helping Hands, a Boca Raton-based food pantry with multiple distribution centers in Palm Beach County, continues operating six days a week amid growing lines — but the contents of the bags it hands out have changed.
“The peak of our food acquisition was 5.4 million pounds of food. This year we got 3 — a little less than 4 million pounds, so we’re down a million pounds of food,” Executive Director Andrew Hagen said…