Coplay’s Commitment to Family and Community is ending its service to the borough after 67 years.

Formerly called the Coplay Fire Department Social Club, this group was the fundraising arm of the Coplay Fire Department.

It reconstituted into Commitment to Family and Community around 2005.

At that time, the fire department social club was separated from the Coplay Fire Department by Coplay Borough Council. The division was reportedly the result of disagreements between council, the former fire chief and the social club. The fire chief left the department, and the social club was separated from the fire department.

Leaders of the social club changed their mission to focus on helping the community. It became a nonprofit organization that held fundraisers to give back to the community. They would also rent the social hall, 165 Cherry St., Coplay, for weddings, family reunions, graduation celebrations, bridal showers and other gatherings.

The CFC, as the fire department fundraising arm, began its work in 1955. For 67 years, a core group of volunteers labored to provide social events for the Coplay community as it raised funds for the fire department.

The group used to hold an annual 10-week ticket raffle, which culminated in drawings that garnered an overflow crowd at the social hall and filled outside tents set up for the event’s always-anticipated large attendance.

Members say it had a “Midas touch” when it came to fundraising.

Through the years, they held monthly all-you-can-eat breakfasts, a popular bingo night, breakfasts with Santa, various craft shows, Longaberger basket sales and purse bingos, to name a few. A policeman’s ball was held there for seven consecutive years.

The CFC assisted with the recent outstanding efforts of the Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative in the fight to combat local food insecurity.

With excellent bakers on their volunteer team, they built a holiday cookie following that endured for decades. At a recent holiday craft show, the cookies sold out in a few hours.

The talented bakers also held fastnacht doughnut sales that were a hit.

The CFC was a valued fixture with an elaborate menu at its food stand at Coplay Community Days for decades. The potato pancakes were billed as the best in the Lehigh Valley and always sold out at the festival.

For 67 years, there was much hard work, blood, sweat and tears coordinating and running a myriad of fundraising activities.

At its February meeting, Coplay council and the CFC were reportedly unable to come to terms for a lease renewal. Because of an inability to cement a new lease, the CFC informed council, via email, its decision not to renew the lease and to cease CFC operations.

Councilmen Richard Kern and Mark Molitoris indicated the lease discussions never progressed to deciding what a new monthly rental fee would be.

“I never want to see any organization in Coplay end their service to the community,” Kern said, hoping for a last-minute agreement.

Many in the borough of Coplay recognize the hard work and dedication of the large group of volunteers who worked in the organization and labored collectively through six decades to support the Coplay Fire Department, and later, the Coplay community.

As the CFC shutters its business, members will be thanked by many in town for their longevity, pursuing 67 years of important volunteer work.