I wanted to talk this week on both our Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative garden at the Mickley-Prydun Farm and the grand opening of our children’s summer feeding program.

Our garden is doing very well. Tomatoes, sweet peppers, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, carrots and cucumbers have been planted. Also, sunflowers and zinnia were planted to attract bees to pollinate the garden.

All vegetables grown will be given to the children attending our summer program. When the program ends Aug. 25, the vegetables will be given to our pantry guests.

Thank you to our volunteers for all the time and effort put in at the garden and to Mayor Michael Harakal Jr. for allowing Assistant Fire Chief Mark Bilder and his team to load our water containers last week with 500 gallons of water.

Call Gwen Herczog, garden chair, at 610-379-6823 with any garden questions.

WCHI had a great summer feeding program opening day June 15. We welcomed several children back who attended last year’s program but also registered many new children for a total of 87 children.

We can serve many more. Registration occurs throughout the summer.

This program is strictly for the children of low-income household residents of Whitehall Township and Coplay Borough. Once registered, the children or parent may pick up the food, and the household will be checked off on our forms each day they attend.

Register at the site closest to your home. We serve four sites 10-11 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays through Aug. 24. The locations are Redeemed Christian Church of God, 5 N. Third St., Coplay; Maryland Circle Apartments, 1 Maryland Circle, Whitehall; Mickley Run Apartments, Whitehall, parking lot closest to the 350 building off Overlook Road; and St. John’s Lutheran Church, 835 N. Third St., Whitehall.

Please note the pantry, 3024 S. Ruch St., will accommodate any parent/guardian who cannot make either the Monday- or Wednesday-morning food distribution and those households not close to one of the four locations.

WCHI will both register your children and provide the summer feeding program food at our pantry in the parking lot by our shed 6-7 p.m. every Wednesday evening during the 11-week program. Our pantry closes promptly 7 p.m. Wednesdays.

WCHI provides a bag of shelf-stable food for each child in the household attending every Monday and Wednesday. On Mondays, each child receives a bag with food for two breakfasts and two lunches. The Wednesday bag contains three breakfasts and three lunches.

WCHI provided 522 meals to the 87 children that attended June 15. Food is rotated through five different days. The food in bag one will be distributed again on day six.

Contact Sue Butchinski, children’s summer feeding program chair, with any questions at 484-767-6022.

For the summer feeding program, we need macaroni and cheese boxes and bowls.

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

A huge thank you goes to all our amazing and selfless WCHI volunteers, who donate their time and talents to help our Whitehall and Coplay low-income residents with all our programs, including the children’s summer feeding program, our garden, our pantry and Snack Pack Pals when school is in session.

Contact Sylvia Lee, volunteer chair, at volunteerme.lee@gmail.com to learn how you can volunteer with WCHI.