As you know by now, the mission of Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative is to alleviate food insecurity in Whitehall and Coplay. This includes children, adults and seniors. No one should be hungry in this country.

For the May 7 WCHI community outreach program distribution at both Redeemed Christian Church of God, 5 N. Third St., Coplay, and St. John’s Lutheran Church, 835 N. Third St., Whitehall, we served 509 people - 230 children, 223 adults and 56 seniors. We are glad to report many children being served come from our partnerships with both Leah Saliby’s Snack Pack Pals program at Whitehall-Coplay School District and Mary Spieker’s Snack Pack Pals program at St. Elizabeth Regional School and includes children from our two summer breakfast camps.

We are also serving many additional children and adults due to COVID-19 job furloughs. The number of adults is almost as many as the children. Senior numbers are increasing as well. We are so happy to help all residents in need.

We are requesting the following food items for the next distribution May 21 - for the children’s bags: individual macaroni and cheese bowls, Jiff To Go, individual oatmeal packs and individual raisins boxes; for the adults’ bags: boxes of macaroni and cheese, jars or cans of marinara/spaghetti sauce, saltine crackers, graham crackers and pasta/rice sides.

Please purchase food and have it shipped or drop it off at my office, Re/Max Unlimited, 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall. The doors are locked, so leave it in front of the left door 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. Please do not tie bags on the front door handles. People are in the building at those times; they will see you and bring the food inside. For other times, call or text 610-730-8067. You can also hand-deliver donations 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays only at St. John’s Lutheran Church at the alley door to the church where the ramp is located.

Monetary donations are also appreciated and can be made payable to Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative. On the memo line put Community Outreach Program (COP) and mail to WCHI at 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall, 18052. We are a 501(c)3 public charity, and your donation may be tax deductible. All donations are going 100 percent to purchase food for our distributions.

A big thank you goes out to all of you who support us with food and monetary donations and physical labor; Hokey Fire Hall for unloading our truck from Second Harvest Food Bank and loading us for the Coplay distribution of 7,000-plus pounds of food at a time; Coringrato and Erie Insurance for donating $2,000; Whitehall Area Rotary Club’s check for $750; all of the public’s generous donations; Angel Resources for doing weekly shopping; and the many volunteers who unpack the donations, sort, pack and organize all the bags of food and distribute the food at our two sites. I wish you all can see how appreciative our guests are when they come to our two locations. Some people actually cry. This program truly is a community helping each other.