Wow, I can’t believe we are starting November this week. Time sure does fly.

I personally do not like the shorter days, but I love all the warm weather we have been having! November is the season for giving thanks, and Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative surely has a lot to be thankful for.

Everyone’s lives changed forever due to COVID-19 last year. When the pandemic shut down everything, WCHI quickly mobilized our resources to feed Whitehall and Coplay residents who were hit hard by work shutdowns, stay-at-home orders, job layoffs, COVID-19 quarantines, food store shortages, etc. Do you remember the run on toilet paper in the stores?

We fed Whitehall and Coplay residents every two weeks outside with drop-and-go bag operations March through Oct. 22, 2020.

During the summer of 2020, we started to look for a new location to set up a food pantry, knowing we would have to close the food distributions due to safety issues from being dark due to the daylight saving time change. We didn’t know how we were going to pay for it; we just knew we needed one. I wanted to be in the center of Whitehall but very close to Coplay.

Jeff Warren, a Whitehall Township commissioner, told me about a Lehigh County grant opportunity. At the same time, a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Church called Monsignor Gobitas, and someone else called me to see if the closed Christ the King School building would be available.

This location is in the middle of Whitehall, and Coplay is right across the street - just the location we were looking for. The rest is all history.

Everyone associated with WCHI is eternally thankful to Jeff Warren and to the Lehigh County commissioners, who approved our grant application last fall, and to Gobitas and the Diocese of Allentown for granting us a long-term lease to open our new pantry.

We are also truly grateful to Second Harvest and all the food and financial support we receive from local donors. We are also appreciative of the support given to us from Whitehall Township and Coplay Borough, Whitehall-Coplay School District and local Catholic school clubs and Lehigh Valley businesses.

I especially want to recognize and send out a huge thank you and shout-out to all our volunteers who obtained all the state-required child abuse clearances and requirements. Without you, we would not be open.

WCHI and the residents we serve thank all of you.

Remember, Nov. 7 is daylight saving time. We all gain one hour.

That same day, we are hosting our free community meal 4-6:30 p.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 835 Third St., Whitehall. Go in the church parking lot on Quarry Street by the old school/office building and turn right in the alley to go to the church door. The meal is drop-and-go pickup and is guaranteed for the first 100 guests.

We currently need toiletries. Go to tinyurl.com/WCHIPantryList.

You can also host a food and/or toiletry drive. See the details at tinyurl.com/WCHIdrive.

King Cone is doing a food and toiletry drive through Nov. 18 at the store at 5503 MacArthur Road, Whitehall.

Our next food pantry distribution is scheduled for 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 5:30-7 p.m. Nov. 11.

Have a great week!