Since COVID-19 paved the way for Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative to provide a food pantry for Whitehall-Coplay residents, I have been thinking about creating an advisory board. This is different from our board of directors, who helps make top-down decisions.

Our mission is to alleviate food insecurity in Whitehall and Coplay.

The purpose of the WCHI advisory board is to help WCHI accomplish our mission. I want to expand our focus to include different perspectives from a myriad of people who ultimately will help our pantry guests. And as a group, we will further alleviate food insecurity in Whitehall and Coplay.

I would like this new advisory board to consist of pantry guests, a couple of our current board members, faith-based community members and any local government, business and service organization members. This would be a bottom-up approach to help our guests with pantry improvements.

It also will help WCHI obtain a contact and direct information on established community services such as Meals on Wheels, WIC, Department of Aging, etc.

We also need more businesses, housing developments and faith-based and service organizations to do more organized food drives for us. We would love a representative to be on our advisory board.

The advisory board will consist of 20-30 area members, though there is no minimum or maximum limit. No state-mandated child abuse clearances are required to be a member of this board, unless you volunteer further with WCHI.

The advisory board will have three meetings a year, lasting about 90 minutes. Our first meeting will be held 2 p.m. Oct. 17 in our food pantry at St. John the Baptist Church in the Christ the King School, 3024 S. Ruch St., Whitehall.

If putting the address in your GPS, put in Coplay as the town. Some GPS will bring you to our WCHI garden on the other side of South Ruch Street. Park in the back parking lot, and look for our pantry signs to come in the side door of the school.

If you have any questions about this advisory board, call me on my personal cell at 610-730-8067.

Our next free community meal is Oct. 17 at Redeemed Christian Church of God, 5 N. Third St., Coplay. Call 610-262-8993. Meals are 4-6 p.m. while supplies last.

WCHI fed 1,008 residents in September, consisting of 266 households, 365 children, 428 adults and 215 seniors. We had 27 new households consisting of 29 children, 36 adults and 21 seniors, for a total of 86 newly served guests.

The 86 people are included in the 1,008 total people served. Not every registered guest comes every month. This is only the total number of households served in September.

Please host a food drive for WCHI. We are limited as to what we can obtain from Second Harvest Food Bank. Please advise us if you want to and/or are doing a food drive. We are starting to collect items for the holidays.

A list of what is needed can be found at our website, tinyurl.com/yc2vdns3.

We need boxes of oatmeal; boxed potatoes; canned fruit with low sugar or light fruit syrup; canned corn and peas; canned tuna; cereal; condiments such as mayo, ketchup and mustard; macaroni and cheese; pancake mix and syrup; pasta; ready-to eat items such as canned ravioli and SpaghettiOs; brown or white rice; all kinds of soups, including creamed, chicken noodle, tomato and vegetable; spaghetti sauce; and Stovetop stuffing mix. All food items above can be store brands.

All donations are appreciated and may be shipped to or dropped off 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at Re/Max Unlimited Real Estate, 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall, 18052.

Please contact me with anything listed above. Thank you, and have a great week!