Community Service- Meals with a Cause

There are currently 4 projects for volunteers to assist with opportunities under the Meals With A Cause category.

Serving Dinner at The Lewis Center, 1000 45th Street, West Palm Beach

3-4 volunteers from 5:30 – 7:00 pm on the 2nd Wednesday or the 4th Thursday of the month.
In conjunction with the Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County, individuals identified as homeless but hopeful are enrolled in the 90-Day Rapid Re-Housing program. They live at the Lewis Center where they receive social, vocational and medical services to enable them to become employed and then able to transition into their own housing. This program is called “Breaking Bread, Breaking Barriers” and it enables our members to serve a dinner, cafeteria-style, which has been prepared and delivered to the Lewis Center.
There is much need in our community. If you are interested in participating in either of these efforts, please contact Debbie Mendelson- MAC@ncjwpalmbeach.org.

Soup for the Soul

Soup For The Soul, a community-based volunteer effort to provide bags of nutritious soup ingredients to food insecure Palm Beach County residents, who create a healthy soup for their families. To date, we have provided food to over 11,8000 residents. Seeking volunteers to continue meeting the ever-growing need to feed our children and families.

Let’s Do Lunch

Let’s Do Lunch is a completely volunteer program that supplies sandwiches and snacks to the homeless that come to St. George Episcopal Church and Recreation Center. Each day, residents receive one hot meal supplied by the church and a bag dinner to take with them supplied by us on our assigned day.

We ask that our volunteers prepare sandwiches of any kind at home (no mayonnaise, please). Then, on a designated day, we will pick up the sandwiches and deliver them to the church.

We are currently looking for an assistant to help email thank you notes to the volunteers. It only requires a once-a-month commitment. The list of volunteers will be provided by the captains in each community.

Cooking for Quantum House

Do you like to cook? Once a month, usually on the 2nd Monday of the month, volunteer chefs prepare (in their own kitchen) part of the meal for the children and families living at Quantum House. This “house” is similar to a Ronald MacDonald house which enables families to live right near St. Mary’s Hospital which specializes in surgeries on children’s limbs. A “home-cooked” dinner prepared by NCJW volunteers is always appreciated. More chefs are needed and the chairperson would love to involve another volunteer to help with the various aspects of this project.

Questions: CarenFreigenberg - Quantum@ncjwpalmbeach.org.

Changing the Face of Homelessness

Changing the Face of Homelessness…with several initiatives to make the lives of the unhoused less problematic.

The Dignity Project

The mission of our Dignity Project is to provide NCJW cinch backpacks with over 24 personal care items plus socks and underwear to unhoused women and men in Greater Palm Beach. The cinch bags are distributed to those in need by outreach workers at The Lord’s Place.

If you are interested in participating in the program or making a donation, please contact: Lauren at Community@ncjwpalmbeach.org OR Christene at Dignity@ncjwpalmbeach.org

Partners in Nosh

Vita Nova is a community agency supplying housing for youth who have aged out of foster care and unhoused youth living on the streets.

Ten fabulous NCJW members gathered on Friday, April 17th to participate in “Partners in Nosh” for hungry youth at Vita Nova in West Palm Beach.

100 deli meat and cheese bagel sandwiches were made with donations from Bagels With Deli in Palm Beach Gardens and packed in gift bags with snacks and fruit.

These TO GO lunches were received with tremendous gratitude by the young people to take home with them for the weekend.

One of Vita Nova’s greatest needs is to keep their Grab and Go pantry stocked. So many of the residents don’t have regular access to food and rely on this pantry. Community food pantries used to be able to supply the necessary fresh food but the need has been so great that they are now running empty.
If you would like more information about this program and how YOU can help, please reach out to Lauren at: Community@ncjwpalmbeach.org.

Partners in Grime

Creativity has been a cornerstone of the success of Palm Beach Section.

Our new VP of Community Service, Lauren Corwin, noticed that the Dollar Deals and Winn Dixie stores in Palm Beach Gardens were closing. Knowing that Dollar Deals is known for their household items, Lauren asked whether they would consider donating to our Partners in Grime program for Vita Nova. Below, you can see the results. Over 70 cleaning supplies were delivered to the Vita Nova youth, who received the items with tremendous gratitude.