Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative is working very diligently on opening the new food pantry at St. John the Baptist Church, Christ the King School cafeteria in Stiles. We hope to be open by mid-January 2021. I will keep you posted on our progress as we get closer.

Thank you, Monsignor Gobitas and Barb Sukanick, who also want this pantry to succeed and thrive.

Thanks to the COVID-19 Lehigh County Relief Block Grant approval, we are able to order all the necessary pantry setup items needed for our operation, such as tables, rolling storage cabinets, refrigerators and freezers.

These are coming within two weeks, and then we need to organize the pantry. We will bring in the food and toiletries the public has generously donated and will pick up Second Harvest food to stock the pantry.

Then we need to bag up the items to hold our drop-and-go distribution. This is a step-by-step process and everything takes time.

To every one of the many volunteers who are getting all the required clearances, thank you!

One clearance is the FBI Criminal Background Fingerprint Check. This gets done quickly and an unofficial copy of any criminal charges is emailed the next day.

We were told by staff at IdentoGo, where we need to have the fingerprints taken, the official copies would be mailed out within two weeks. Unfortunately, many volunteers are all waiting six to eight weeks now with no official copy.

Hopefully, they come soon. I cannot open without full sets of clearances.

We told our guests at our last food distribution we would let them know when we would open. I have received many phone calls asking when we will be opening, since people are running low on food.

I cannot do anything until we are open, but I have talked with Doreen Wagner, who runs Whitehall Food Pantry at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 3900 Mechanicsville Road.

If you know anyone who needs food, have them call Doreen at 484-246-5715 to get on her schedule until we can open. Thank you, Doreen.

Food insecurity affects many Whitehall and Coplay residents. Some do not have transportation, some work two jobs and cannot attend a pantry during the hours open, and some are unemployed due to COVID-19.

I also have seniors, who live on fixed incomes, calling me. They cannot stretch their dollars with their medications and are now concerned about how they will pay their real estate taxes in 2021. We will help as many people as we can when we open.

In the meantime, look out for your neighbors, friends and family members. Food-insecure people will not tell you they need help. Casually ask how they are doing and if they need anything. Please share your abundance with those who are having a hard time right now.

We are collecting canned soup and vegetables, rice and pasta, spaghetti sauce, tuna fish, pancake mix and syrup, macaroni and cheese boxes, peanut butter, jelly, Jif-to-Go packs, juice boxes, peanut butter or cheese snack crackers, pudding cups, toilet paper, baby and adult diapers, feminine products, shampoo, soap, toilet paper and canned dog and cat food.

Donations can be dropped at my Re/Max office, 1080 Schadt Ave., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sundays.

Call me with any questions at 610-730-8067.