A new home for Hearts of Palm

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church’s center will serve hundreds of meals and offer job training and counseling.

Riviera Beach, Florida — The future Hearts of Palm Center on the Karen Cook Family Campus in Riviera Beach. The center is planned as a resource for homeless people, promoting social connections and outreach. (Rendering: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church)

Blustery winds and a threat of rain could not dampen the enthusiasm of parishioners from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at a groundbreaking Oct. 24 for a $7 million center in Riviera Beach to serve the homeless community.

More than 100 people gathered for the ceremony at the site of the future Hearts of Palm Center at 21 W. 22nd St., just west of Broadway.

“The crowd is a testament of how important this project is,” donor Jennifer Gervasi of Palm Beach Gardens said.

The former site of St. George Episcopal Church will be home to a new center to continue nearly four decades of service to homeless people.

“We are here because we love God, and we do that by loving our neighbors as ourselves,” said the Rev. James Cook, St. Mark’s recently retired rector.

“The center will continue the work that began with St. George in 1989 with the launch of a ministry to serve the poor.”

In 1998, St. Mark’s in Palm Beach Gardens joined forces with its sister church, St. George, and the two congregations, supported by Holy Trinity in West Palm Beach, founded the program that continues to serve meals Monday through Friday at its temporary location at Victory City Church at 163 W. 20th St.

Soon a dozen other churches and synagogues, community service organizations, nonprofits, local businesses and individuals joined.

“All of us shared this one common goal: that no one should ever go hungry,” Cook said.

Riviera Beach, Florida, homeless — The new center will be named for Karen Cook, second from right, the director of Hearts of Palm for 20 years. (Photo: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church)

Karen Cook’s impact

Around 2008, Cook’s wife, Karen, became the first director of Hearts of Palm ministry. The campus is named in her honor.

She spearheaded the building of a gymnasium and youth center in 2011 at St. Mark’s and established a summer program that hosted missions from churches around the country. Teens painted and repaired houses, cleared debris from vacant lots and fixed leaky roofs, until COVID hit.

In 2022, St. George dissolved, and the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida deeded the Riviera Beach property to St. Mark’s for the center.

The 6,082-square-foot, two-story building will have a chapel on the first floor, and offices and communal space on the second floor will provide a place where charities can minister and offer vital support to clients in need.

Hearts of Palm Center, Riviera Beach, Florida — The Meatloaf Ministry at St. Mark’s has been preparing the same weekly meal for decades. Three large teams of volunteers each make 5 pounds of meatloaf and a volunteer crew prepares the rest of the meal of mashed potatoes and green beans, borrowing the kitchen at First Presbyterian Church in North Palm Beach. Another crew delivers the meals to Victory City Church. (Photo: Janis Fontaine/Stet)

The soul of the new center will be St. George Table, the kitchen that will continue to serve more than 200 meals every day.

In addition to providing food, the Hearts of Palm Center will offer job training, mental health counseling and housing assistance.

Gifts large and small have made this possible, church leaders said.

The fundraising campaign raised $7 million to begin construction, Cook said.

New building needed

An original plan to repair St. George’s building was scrapped after analyzing the costs; the years of wear and tear were too great. It has taken nearly twice as long and twice as much money as organizers expected, but finally, the ceremonial shovels came out.

Palm Beach Gardens-based architects Birse/Thomas are finalizing the plans for approval by the city. The team includes Anderson Moore Construction Corp. of Lake Park and West Palm Beach engineering firm Simmons and White. Construction is expected to begin in early 2027.

The site has been designed with sustainability as a key element. Native vegetation, low-flow plumbing, LED lighting, rainwater collection and gray water recycling, bioswales, and permeable parking to reduce flooding are part of the plan.

An aquaponics garden will grow produce for St. George Table, and, as part of the self-sustaining vision, it could become an agribusiness.

“Those who enter this building will find the heart of God awaiting their arrival,” the Rev. Cook said. “It’s a joy to shine as a beacon of faith, hope and light as we seek to respect the dignity of every human being.”