Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative will be offering cash bingo events at St. Peter Roman Catholic Church, 4 S. Fifth St., Coplay, Sept. 11, Oct. 9 and Nov. 6. We will start up again Jan. 15, 2023. Doors will open 1 p.m., and bingo starts 2 p.m.

St. Peter’s kitchen will be open with fabulous food available for purchase. Please bring a food item for Snack Pack Pals or for our food pantry.

Children are allowed to play if accompanied by an adult. The $15 entry fee buys you two bingo boards with four games. Each additional board is $1, and a pack of five paper specials are $5. We play 15 board games and five paper specials. Bingo chips and dabbers are available for purchase on site and through Jackpot Amusements, 5827 Colony Drive, Bethlehem (610-837-9240) or on amazon.com.

For more information and reservations, call Liz Rodgers, program chair, at 484-274-6687.

WCHI and our faith-based community partners are proud to provide these free meals to low-income Whitehall-Coplay households twice a month. All are welcome to attend both meals 4-6:30 p.m. the first Sunday and third Tuesday each month.

Meals are guaranteed for the first 100 guests. Once the meals have been given out, which may be before 6:30 p.m., the doors will be closed. A sign will be placed on the door stating the meals are finished for the day.

Each site location will state if this is an inside dine-in meal, an outside drop-and-go pickup meal or both. We will post site requirements on Facebook and Instagram for each meal. The host location changes every time.

The following are WCHI’s September meal dates and locations.

• Sept. 4 at Muslim Association of the Lehigh Valley, 1988 Schadt Ave., Whitehall (703-346-8698)

• Sept. 20 at Whitehall Bible Fellowship Church, 3300 Seventh St., Whitehall (610-434-8661)

Please talk with your Whitehall and Coplay faith-based parish pastor, secretary and council members to discuss at their September meetings what dates they would like to host one or more meals for 2023. New churches or other organizations that want to host a meal for WCHI are encouraged to participate.

WCHI will hold a meeting in October with those representatives at our food pantry to solidify the 2023 free community meal schedule. Questions about hosting a meal or a guest wanting more information can call Karen Haberern, program chair, at 610-730-3184.

You can see our garden at Mickley-Prydun Farm from the Ironton Rail Trail between Center and Lehigh streets. Our garden has been planted, cultivated, watered and weeded by dedicated WCHI volunteers. They grew tomatoes, sweet peppers, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, carrots and cucumbers. They also planted sunflowers and zinnias to attract bees to pollinate the plants. These fresh vegetables were given to the children during our children’s summer feeding program, which ended Aug. 24.

The remaining produce mentioned above and the new fall crop that will be planted, including cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, leaks, acorn squash and hot peppers, will be given to our pantry guests throughout the October growing season, while supplies last.

A huge thank you goes to Hokendauqua Fire Station members/volunteers who have brought water to fill our water bins during the growing season.

To find out how you can volunteer with WCHI’s garden, call Gwen Herzog, program chair, at 610-379-6823.

WCHI pantry items needed are canned pasta, ketchup, mustard, relish, cereal, canned tuna fish and any kind of dry pasta. These items can be dropped off in my office foyer or shipped to Shari Noctor at Re/Max Unlimited, 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall, 18052. My office is open 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sundays.

Thank you, and have a great week!