11 Feeding the Poor, Health Clinic and Job Training in Boca Raton Boca Helping Hands is a volunteer-driven organization with only 15 staff members and more than 300 volunteers, whose mission is to provide food, medical and financial assistance to meet basic human needs as well as education, job training and guidance to create self-sufficiency. Their goal is to help the neediest to cross the bridge independence. They run a Food Center and Pantry Program plus they supply meals to the homebound, provide job training, mentoring, and limited financial assistance. They work at providing solutions to hunger and poverty in assisting low- income individuals, families and the elderly. In 2017 BHH held classes training participants for jobs as Home Care Aides, Truck Drivers, IT Help Desk Technicians, and in the Hospitality Industry. More than 50% of their “graduates” are now employed. The Food Center is open 6 days a week and in addition to serving 1,300 hot meals each week, BHH also gives out 5,000 pantry bags (some of which are delivered directly to the homebound using Health Department approved coolers funded by HOT) each month. Over the years, HOT has made major grants to enable BHH to purchase (1) a freezer for the Food Center, (2) a van, (3) a walk-in cooler see left, (4) a freight elevator see upper right (5) an air conditioner for the kitchen (6) a refrigerated truck, see below (7) a forklift, (8) a Hydraulic Scissors Dock, see below (9) computers for the job mentoring program We have also (10) set up an Emergency Aid Fund which, similar to HOT’s other Financial Aid Funds, can only be used if all other sources of potential funding have been exhausted, (11) has made numerous successful challenge grants, filling backpacks with weekend food for hungry children, and (12) funded the purchase of an X-ray machine for their dental clinic. Their current wish list includes: • BHH has 2018/2019 funding for 700 of the 1,100 children in their backpack program but needed $44,948 in multiples of $112.37 to fill 400 additional backpacks filled with a weekend of food for children who are in the federal hot lunch program. The full cost is $6.84 per backpack or $225.72 per child for the entire 33 weekends during the school year, but HOT donors only need to give half the cost as BHH will find us a partner to pay the other half. LEVERAGE. • $9,362 for 7 AED’s (Automatic External Defibrillators) @ $1,376 each • $15,000 in increments of $500 for BHH to send 20 children of working parents to local summer camps