United Way of Palm Beach County

Smoke alarms save lives, but only if they are properly installed and functioning. According to Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, most fatalities happen in homes without working smoke alarms. To help educate our community, we're teaming up with Palm Beach County Fire Rescue and the American Red Cross on Saturday, July 20th from 8:30am-2:00pm for a day of safety education and smoke detector installations. Volunteer opportunities are available for a variety of roles. Please visit https://ow.ly/jzzv50Sy9L6 and enter your zip code for location information and to sign up.

The countdown to Back to School PBC! has begun! We're 25 days away and have open volunteer spots for a variety of activities on August 2nd for setup and August 3rd for the event at both Palm Beach County Convention Center and Village Academy Delray Beach. Sign up on our website at https://ow.ly/HOph50Sy6y1 and be part of this tremendous event serving 10,000 students in Palm Beach County.

Calling all students and parents! The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form completed by current and prospective college students to determine their eligibility for student financial aid. This Friday, join Path to College for a free FAFSA workshop where you'll receive expert guidance on navigating the FAFSA process. Make sure to bring: • Your FSA ID • Your 2022 Federal Tax Return • Records of Untaxed Income and Assets Register here: https://ow.ly/ARzl50Sx2oJ

Yesterday's City of Boca Raton's inaugural Firecracker 5K was a star-spangled success! It was a beautiful day that brought together nearly 550 runners, including our Senior Director of MISSION UNITED, Jonathan Oakley, to race through Florida Atlantic University. All proceeds from the run benefited MISSION UNITED. MISSION UNITED, a United Way signature initiative, connects military veterans and their families with the support needed to lead fulfilling, healthy lives after completing military service. Special thanks to the City of Boca Raton and their Community Events Coordinator, Richard Mahler, for their partnership and incredible support!

Members from our Hunger Relief Team made their way to Washington, D.C. last month to attend Food Research & Action Center's National Anti-Hunger Conference. They advocated alongside other anti-hunger champions from across the country to help better fight hunger in Palm Beach County!

When school lets out, Summer BreakSpot comes in! To help ensure that Florida children have access to wholesome meals during summer break, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services partners with schools and organizations to provide free meals to kids and teens. Sites in Palm Beach County are currently open. To find a site near you, call 2-1-1, text "FOOD" or "COMIDA" to 304-304, or visit SummerBreakSpot.org.

Each year on or around June 21, thousands of people across the globe come together to volunteer with United Way for our Day of Action. This year's Day of Action was a huge success thanks to the volunteers from BDO and our community who completed two projects that will benefit those in Palm Beach County. Volunteers are at the heart of what we do and we thank them for taking action and making an impact with us!

We commemorated Juneteenth with a volunteer project to honor freedom and resilience. Our partner for this special project was Gilbane Building Company and their employees connected with their local chapter of Ujima in Boca Raton. Their fantastic volunteers assembled 75 hygiene care kits that will be donated to children in the foster care system through Children's Home Society of Florida and ChildNet, Inc. These kits were designed for children of color and their specific needs. This was Gilbane's very first volunteer project, and we thank the Gilbane team for trusting us as your partner for this milestone and for making a difference in Palm Beach County!

According to the Department of Education, the more students read or are read to for fun on their own time and at home, the higher their reading scores, generally. There's still time to get books into the hands of children in our community through the Summer BreakSpot program by donating new or gently used books to Palm Beach County Food Bank on weekdays between 8:00am-3:30pm through July 1st. Thank you to our Vice President of Philanthropy, Paula McLeod, for supporting the book drive by hosting an evening of literacy with friends and special guest, author Diane Bergner!

Our latest Impact Tour featured Grey Team, an organization whose mission is to reduce and eliminate military suicides by building and implementing solutions for active-duty U.S. soldiers and military veterans. Since its founding in 2016, Grey Team has worked with nearly 800 veterans and zero have been lost to suicide. Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to tour the facility, explore recovery tools, and gain a deeper insight into the life-saving services they provide. One healing technique used is photobiomodulation. This red-light therapy uses specific wavelengths of light to stimulate biological processes within the body. When tissues absorb light at these wavelengths, it triggers the body's natural healing processes. We're proud to support Grey Team and the transformative work they do in our community. Learn more at https://www.greyteam.org.