But at Boca Helping Hands – and surely at other organizations still in pandemic response mode – it feels like this summer has been as busy as ever.
While we’ve been preparing for the effects of yet another COVID-19 spike, as well as the brunt of the hurricane season, we’ve continued implementing our plans to expand the scope, reach, and impact of our services, resulting in many recent “firsts” for several of our programs.
Last month, we admitted the first students who have chosen to pursue our newly available construction trade job training career options. We also paid for the first uninsured patients in West
Palm Beach to receive medical and behavioral care at Florida Atlantic University's Community Health Centers, under our new partnership with the FAU Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing. Over the past few months, for the first time, clients in Boynton
Beach and Delray Beach have been able to receive emergency financial assistance for childcare costs, overdue rent, and utility payments.
Next month, thanks to our new partners at the Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church in West Delray Beach, we will open our sixth pantry bag distribution location on their campus located on Atlantic Avenue. Through strategic planning, we identified this area as a “food desert,” with a currently underserved community that includes new immigrants and nearby seniors on fixed incomes.
To facilitate all of these expansions, we are also in the process of adding new staff members to our team. We look forward to introducing them to you as they join the BHH family. 2021 has continued to be a year of new challenges. However, we are
confident that come year-end, like the Olympic champions we watched this summer, our staff, volunteers, and community partners will have risen to the occasion. We know our community is counting on us, just as we know we can count on you to continue your faithful support of our work.
