Michele Wright, former WPEC-TV news anchor and honorary chairwoman of last year’s Community Caring Center event, with Doreen Robinson, chairwoman of this year’s Dreams Come True Gala set for Nov. 16. Photo provided
By Amy Woods
Thirty years of creating a healthier community through services offered by the Community Caring Center of Greater Boynton Beach will be feted Nov. 16.
The Dreams Come True Gala invites guests to an annual affair that supports feeding programs for children and families in need and shut-in seniors with food insecurities.
Proceeds from the $125 ticket, as well as the raffle and silent auction, will help pay for a network of services such as affordable food packages, chronic disease menu plans and gardening and nutrition education.
“Creating a healthier community is my dream actually coming true,” executive director Sherry Johnson said. “I can’t believe it.”
The need for feeding programs runs far and wide. Pockets of Palm Beach County where poverty abounds have residents who wonder where their next meal is coming from — and if they do know, that meal might not be as healthy as it should.
“Providing access to fresh food that is reasonably priced is the goal,” Johnson said. “That is why we are doing what we are doing.”
Affordable food packages range from $14 to $26 and are offered monthly to help stretch grocery budgets. Each box includes locally grown produce, restaurant-quality meats and wild-caught salmon.
Because the ingredients are organic and sustainable, those with serious illnesses can benefit from them, too.
“We have this whole education component for another generation that will probably not fall into that pattern of eating unhealthy and perpetuating that chronic disease,” Johnson said, referring to gardening and nutrition education, which is aimed primarily at children.
Chronic disease menu plans target those with arthritis, asthma, cancer, diabetes, gout, heart disease, high blood pressure and osteoporosis.
“We think we’re on the forefront of a really neat program,” Johnson said. “We’re now growing up.”
The 30th-anniversary event will feature live music, ballroom-dancing performances, decorations and dinner. An estimated 150 are expected to attend.
“It’s a wonderful event,” board member and gala Chairwoman Doreen Robinson said. “My mission is to raise the bar, to outreach, to get more sponsors and to bring in more revenue.”
The agency touches 5,000 South County residents, of whom 260 are older adults who cannot leave their homes. The senior meals menu and senior veggie mobile programs enable them to age in place so they don’t have to enter a nursing home.
“Over the years, we feel that our dreams are coming true,” Robinson said. “And we continue to dream about the future.”
If You Go
What: Dreams Come True Gala
When: 6:30 to 10 p.m. Nov. 16
Where: Benvenuto, 1730 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach
Cost: $125
Information: Call 374-8536 or visit cccgbb.org
Comments