Guatemalan-Maya Center serves hundreds of families

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    LAKE WORTH, Florida (WPBF) — Outside the Palm Beach County Food Bank, dozens of local charitable agencies were stopping by for their routine pickup.

Director of Development Ellen Vaughan said they are serving over 200,000 Palm Beach County residents.

Since the start of the pandemic, the need for food is greater than ever, Vaughan said.

“We were once at one time serving 400 pounds of food. And, now, that’s jumped to 1.5 million pounds of food a month is what we distribute,” Vaughan said.

On Tuesday morning, Deacon Jeremy Palermo drove an empty U-Haul truck into the distribution warehouse. When he is not ministering, he gives the Guatemala-Maya Center a hand with food distribution. With the help of volunteers, he loaded 10 pallets of fresh vegetables and produce.

The group distributes food to community leaders, who, in turn, redistribute food to the community.

“We go to their home. We drop off food for about 30 to 40 families they either use their own pickup truck to distribute or they have the families come to their home depending location,” Palermo said.

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