Palm Beach United Way drive brings in food, cash and pet supplies

Palm Beach United Way’s Empty Your Pantry drive showed how fast a clear, limited ask can turn into usable volume: hundreds of bags and boxes of food, plus $9,000 in cash donations, for county residents facing hunger. The campaign also accepted pet food, a practical nod to the fact that household instability often reaches beyond the dinner table.

The 13th annual drive ran from March 29 through April 19 and accepted non-perishable food, monetary donations and pet food. Pet food donations were designated for Peggy’s Pantry at Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League. The flyer set out straightforward drop-off points, including the Town of Palm Beach United Way office at 44 Cocoanut Row, Palm Beach fire stations and multiple Field of Greens locations, and it described donations as 100% tax deductible.

For organizers, the structure matters as much as the haul. The drive gave donors a named campaign, a short window and a small set of easy choices, which helped turn goodwill into measurable output. Cash mattered alongside canned goods and boxed staples because it gave the nonprofit flexibility to fill gaps that donated items could not cover, while the physical donations helped stock shelves quickly.

The need in Palm Beach County remains severe. United Way of Palm Beach County says more than 192,000 residents struggle with hunger, including 50,150 children who do not have enough to eat every day. The organization also says more than half of students in the School District of Palm Beach County qualify for free and reduced lunch.

United Way says its countywide Hunger Relief Plan was developed in 2015 with county leadership and now includes more than 180 community partners focused on childhood hunger, senior hunger, infrastructure and advocacy. The organization also points residents to its 211 Helpline for referrals to food and other services. WPTV reported in November 2025 that United Way’s Food Finder Map showed about 150 food-resource locations across Palm Beach County and had drawn more than 550,000 visits in five years, a sign that the county’s emergency food network now depends on both organized drives and the systems built to route people to help quickly.