I am so delighted to announce we have helped 25 percent more Whitehall and Coplay residents April 8, compared to the first Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative Food Pantry distribution Jan. 14.

At our latest distribution, we served 120 households - 83 in Whitehall and 37 in Coplay.

This is compared to 108 households with 79 from Whitehall and 29 from Coplay March 11; 91 households with 59 from Whitehall and 32 from Coplay Feb. 14; and 91 households with 54 from Whitehall and 37 from Coplay Jan. 14.

The resident breakdown for the April 8 distribution is 386 residents including 131 children, 184 adults and 71 seniors.

The is compared to 355 residents with 129 children, 158 adults and 68 seniors March 11; 330 residents with 125 children, 150 adults and 55 seniors Feb. 14; and 308 residents with 113 children, 141 adults and 54 seniors Jan. 14.

Continue to tell your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers about us. We are here to help low-income Whitehall and Coplay households.

Thank you to all of you who brought people to us that do not have transportation. All of our guests have so much gratitude that we are open and continually thank us.

Our next monthly food distribution will be May 9.

Although 386 people are receiving food from our WCHI pantry, we are aware from data linked to our programs that many residents are not able to come to our food distributions, due to lack of transportation and/or mobility and medical issues.

The next expansion of the WCHI pantry project is to transport food to low-income homebound residents. If you do not have transportation, feel uneasy about asking someone to bring you or are working and cannot get to our distribution during the hours we are open, please call me.

Currently in the Whitehall-Coplay School District, more than half of the students - 55.6 percent or 2,359 students - qualify for and receive free and reduced-rate breakfast and lunch.

WCSD closes down the food service department for the summer. As many of these children rely on this school food, WCHI wants to fill this gap by launching a new children’s summer feeding program, which will distribute food to 500 children this summer at multiple pickup locations in Whitehall and Coplay.

From our earlier community outreach program and our new food pantry, we know where many food-insecure children live whose households have transportation. WCHI really needs your help to identify Whitehall and Coplay residential areas where there are large numbers of households with children that do not have transportation.

Our objective is to have the right locations to achieve the best outcome of feeding as many low-income children as we can with drop-and-go distributions.

To expand more on our children’s summer feeding program, we are having a public meeting 6 p.m. April 15 in our pantry located in the Christ the King School cafeteria at St. John the Baptist Church, 3024 S. Ruch St., Whitehall. Park in the lot behind the school, and come in the second side door. Face masks are required, and we will be following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

This week’s WCHI pantry food and toiletry requests include 24-ounce pancake syrup, Knorr’s pasta sides, 15-ounce Chef Boyardee beef ravioli or beefaroni; canned dog and cat food; 15-ounce shampoo and conditioner; deodorant; feminine products; and large and extra large Depend-type adult diapers. Our guests really need these diapers, and we will break boxes down to give a few out per household.

Thank you and have a great week!