Boca Helping Hands (BHH) is reporting an increased demand for food among the working poor at its distribution center in Lake Worth Beach. Typically serving 400 hot meals each week, an increasing number of local residents have been showing up for help, with 543 this past week, an increase of almost 36 percent.
“The growth in numbers over the last month may reflect the effect of more people falling off of the SNAP (Supplemental Food Assistance Program) eligibility,” said Andrew Hagen, CEO of Boca Helping Hands. “Hundreds of thousands of Floridians have lost these benefits over the past year.”
Boca Helping Hands launched its Lake Worth Beach distribution site at Proclaim Church in 2021, working with a small group of volunteers, preparing hot meals for those in need. What began as a small experiment has grown into one of BHH’s most successful community programs.
Prior to serving as Boca Helping Hands’ CEO, Andrew Hagen served on the organization’s Board of Directors and was also the Pastor for Advent Lutheran Church in Boca Raton. “While I was on the board of directors, we discussed opening another distribution site in Lake Worth and I offered Advent’s new church plant, Proclaim Church, as a possibility,” recalls Andrew Hagen. “The Saturday food distribution was so successful that we added a second night, quickly growing to serve more than 500 people each week.”
The kitchen crew, led by Michael Levine, was initially composed largely of members of Advent Lutheran Church and Proclaim Church, but over the years it has attracted new volunteers. Steve Becker has been an unofficial but indispensable leader throughout those years, serving as the glue and guide for the kitchen volunteers.
“We are so blessed to have the most committed group of volunteers,” Becker says. “These volunteers have been instrumental in growing the program and enabling us to feed more families in need.”
Murry Stegelmann, a Boca Raton financier who was looking for something meaningful to do in retirement, was recruited to help with the program. He has since gathered friends who now form the core of the Lake Worth Beach distribution team. “We know these people need a little helping hand, and we are happy to lend one,” said Stegleman.
The program makes extensive use of recovered and donated food and is supported by donors who make it possible for Boca Helping Hands to continue meeting the growing need in Lake Worth. For Hagen, however, what happens every Friday evening goes beyond the number of meals distributed. “We are thrilled to offer a good meal to someone who needs it,” he says. “But I think the bigger thing we offer here is hope. People can’t live without it.”
