On April 12, more than 200 people participated in the first “Feed Palm Beach County Day” at Gaines Park in West Palm Beach. The West Palm Beach Rotary Club sponsored the project, working in partnership with the Palm Beach County Food Bank.
Tony Lofaso, former president of the West Palm Beach Rotary Club, led the successful event. He raised more than $13,500 to buy the bulk meal supplies. Major sponsors included K&M Electric Supply Cal Cearly/Palm Beach Community Bank, Janet and Robert Nakushian, Racing to the Rescue, the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller, the West Palm Beach Rotary Club, Jack Lansing-UBS, the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation and the City of West Palm Beach. Other club members, friends and local businesses were also supportive.
Volunteers of all ages from dozens of diverse organizations and youth groups assembled more than 50,000 meals for Palm Beach County people in need. Club members from several Rotary groups, along with their families, friends and representatives from the Palm Beach County Sherriff’s Office, Boy Scouts and other organizations worked together to ensure the project’s success.
The 50,000-plus macaroni and cheese meals assembled by teams of 10 to 12 people will help tens of thousands of people who struggle to ensure there is food to get through the day.
“While 70 percent of the meals went to the Palm Beach County Food Bank, the other 30 percent were split between five West Palm Beach-area elementary schools which have food pantries, including Egret Lake, Gold Coast, Meadow Park, Pleasant City and Wynnbrook, and the Gaines Park food pantry,” Lofaso said.
ABOVE: (L-R) Perry Borman of the Palm Beach County Food Bank, Tony Lofaso and Jim Sugarman of the West Palm Beach Rotary Club, and Floyd Hammer from the Outreach Program in Iowa, which coordinates programs like this around the country.
