U.S. Sugar gets into the holiday spirit with food, toy donations

U.S. Sugar has a sack full of goodies for communities in the Glades and elsewhere, making thousands of donations to families during this holiday season.

U.S. Sugar and its nearly 3,000 farmers and employee-owners have been active since Dec. 1 in doling out those donations. Overall, they have given more than 3,000 to employees, as well as “firefighters and law enforcement officers, city and county staff, churches and other charitable organizations in Glades, Hendry, Palm Beach, and Martin counties,” according to a release from the organization.

In Palm Beach County specifically, U.S. Sugar has partnered with other sugar-cane farmers to supply more than 1,000 hams and turkeys to Belle Glade, Pahokee, and South Bay residents. U.S. Sugar also sponsored toy donations in Belle Glade and South Bay.

In Martin County, U.S. Sugar gave out more than 200 turkeys and 100 crates of sweet corn to multiple organizations, such as the Holy Cross Catholic Church, United Way of Martin County, the Martin County NAACP, the Boys & Girls Club of Martin County and the ARC of the Treasure Coast.

And in Lee County, U.S. Sugar has supported charitable efforts at Community Cooperative, the city of Fort Myers, the Old Florida Dream Team Foundation, and the United Way of Lee County.

“The holiday season is a time to reflect on our many blessings, and as a farming company, we are thankful to be able to share some of the bounty of our harvest through food and other donations with our local communities,” said Brannan Thomas, Community Relations Director for U.S. Sugar.

“This year, we partnered with local churches, cities, schools and charitable organizations such as Toys for Tots to help make the holiday season more joyful for our friends and neighbors.”

In addition, U.S. Sugar brought back its Santa Express to deliver more than 4,000 toys benefiting children in Western Palm Beach, Hendry, Glades, Martin and Highlands counties. That organization partnered with Toys for Tots and the U.S. Marines for the effort, as it has in the past.

The locomotive was initially launched in 1920 to travel on the Florida East Coast Railway. U.S. Sugar purchased the train in 1952. The organization revived it in 2020 to bring a harvest to a U.S. Sugar mill.