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Lake Worth Beach teacher helping deliver food to students in need

Number of families in need increases because of the pandemic
Posted at 6:36 PM, Aug 14, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-31 17:16:13-04

LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — The United Way made a final push Friday for donations during a week-long virtual food drive. However, their work is far from over.

Lake Worth Beach teacher Rebecca Currie is on a mission to fight hunger.

Currie, who teaches at North Grade Elementary, delivers meals door-to-door for her students.

"When I found that we were closing down, I emailed the teachers and said, 'Who are the kids that are going to fall under the radar? Who are the kids that don't have a car, that don't have parents that are switched on that can help them?'" Currie said.

With help from First Presbyterian Church, Currie loads up her trunk with groceries each week, packing it with nutritious meals.

"The volunteers then deliver them to the doorstep of the student," Currie said.

Palm Beach County Food Bank
Volunteers and workers at the Palm Beach County Food Bank say they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people needing food since the pandemic.

Every week the Palm Beach County Food Bank drops off dozens of pallets of food. Volunteers then quickly get to work to bag it up. However, it is gone within a few hours.

The food bank makes its weekly deliveries by partnering with agencies like the United Way.

However, Currie said the demand has doubled in Lake Worth Beach since June.

"We went from serving 750 families to 1,500 in just the last month," Currie said.

Volunteers like high school senior Christina Linder are encouraging others to pitch in to help.

"Even if you can't come every Friday and you can't be as committed to it, every single time you're here, you're impacting someone's life, and you're helping someone," Linder said.

"During these times, everyone has enough to worry about. If delivering some extra food gives them one less thing they have to worry about, then that's amazing," Alexia Savage of United Way Worldwide said.