CHRISTIANS REACHING OUT TO SOCIETY INC

In 1978, a group of United Methodist Churches located in Palm Beach County came together to form Christians Reaching Out to Society, Inc. (CROS Ministries). These congregations realized that together they could make a bigger difference supporting the community’s hunger needs. Overtime, we became interfaith, partnering with all denominations, faiths, community groups, and local nonprofit agencies to address hunger issues and create solutions to meet those needs. All services are provided without regard to race, religion, national origin, marital status, gender, disability, sexual orientation, or age.

CROS Ministries is led by Executive Director, Ruth Mageria and governed by a Board of Directors. Our services include distributing food from seven brick and mortar food pantries in Belle Glade, Delray Beach, Jupiter, Lake Worth Beach, West Palm Beach and Indiantown and a mobile “pop-up” food pantry serving Greenacres (three sites), Haverhill, Lake Worth Beach, Riviera Beach, West Palm Beach, and Wellington (two sites); serving hot meals and delivering homebound meals to residents in Delray Beach through our Caring Kitchen program; and recovering fresh fruits and vegetables from local fields that are distributed with the help of community partners to local pantries and meal programs through our Gleaning program.

In 2023, 123,022 (duplicated) individuals relied on food assistance from our pantries, 30% of whom were children and 11% of whom were seniors; 62,053 meals (to-go lunch meals, meals for seniors and veterans and their families, meals to the homebound, after school snacks, and weekend brown bag lunches) were provided through our Caring Kitchen program. During our 2022/2023 gleaning season, we recovered 496,377 pounds of fresh produce from local farms. This is the equivalent of providing 413,648 meals (Based on Feeding America’s equation of 1.2 lbs. of food = 1 meal).