Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative had a very successful pantry distribution April 13 and 14.

We did not hold a Thursday evening distribution due to the church needing its parking lot for its Maundy Thursday church service. Wednesday evening was extremely busy. We also had a great attendance Thursday morning.

WCHI was delighted to provide food and toiletries to 233 households comprised of 837 people - 348 children, 353 adults and 136 seniors. We also registered 13 new households.

Since last June, we have been planning to have inside pantry distributions starting last September. Due to increasing cases of COVID-19, it was not safe for our guests to come inside, so the grand opening kept getting pushed back.

Starting May 12, WCHI will finally have inside pantry operations. This is so exciting for both our volunteers and guests.

Every guest must have a scheduled appointment to keep proper social distancing in our pantry space. During the April pantry registration process, every guest was given an appointment card with a specific time to keep as a reminder. Our new process was explained to each household that attended our April pantry food distribution.

If you do not have a current appointment, call 484-225-0358. I will give you more information every week leading up to the May 12 grand opening.

Another exciting program we do is planting, cultivating and providing fresh vegetables from our WCHI garden at the Mickley Prydun Farm. For the last two years, tomatoes, zucchini, banana peppers, string beans, cucumbers and tomatoes were grown and donated to our children’s summer feeding program children and in the fall to our pantry guests.

It takes a few hands to feed a village, and we could use more volunteers to take a specific raised bed or two to plant and maintain for the planting season. We provide all the materials for the garden including the soil, tools, plants/seeds, etc. The Hokendauqua fire station will provide the water.

We have 17 raised beds of varying sizes to plant. The larger ones can be divided into smaller plots. If you are interested in taking a raised bed or have questions, call 484-225-0358 for more information.

Also, WCHI is in need of a new webmaster. Our website is fully established. This is not time consuming, and we have written updates - usually quarterly - as we move throughout the year with our specific programs. This mainly is a cut-and-paste-type operation.

If interested, call 484-225-0358 for more information.

Thank you, and have a great week.