SHARI NOCTOR

Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative president

In the Lehigh Valley, one in seven people are food insecure. Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative has been blessed to have enough food to feed 1,000 Whitehall and Coplay residents in August and 1,008 residents in September.

October’s numbers are not in yet, since we have not finished the month.

“The USDA defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life,” Feeding America reported. “This can be a temporary situation for a family or can last a long time. Food insecurity is one way we measure how many people cannot afford food.”

If a household needs food, WCHI follows the Emergency Food Assistance Program guidelines, operated in accordance with U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.

Eligibility is based upon the income limits listed on the form. The recipient verifies, based on their household size, that they are at or below the income level indicated on the form to be eligible for program benefits. The income levels are based on yearly, monthly or weekly gross income before taxes are taken out.

WCHI has a chart to show our guests. For weekly income, a household of two cannot receive income higher than $519 per week; a household of five, $1,250 per week; and a household of eight, $1,799 per week. The income chart has all the different household sizes and income limits.

Our guests circle or highlight the line with their household size, verify their allowable income and then sign the form.

WCHI needs some things from our community.

We want to serve as many Whitehall and Coplay food-insecure households as possible. Tell anyone you know that we are here to help.

Many people are extremely proud and do not want people to know they need food. Numerous people feel this way. At some point, they come to the realization that having food is better than being hungry, and then they schedule an appointment to come to our pantry.

Many people do not have transportation. Can you bring them and make sure they have any appointment?

No one is judged. We all need help sometime in our lives.

Pantry appointments are required. Call 484-225-0358. Guests must show proof of residency with a driver’s license and/or a utility bill or other form of mail with their address. We serve guests during their pantry appointment time. If they come early, they need to wait for their appointment time. If they come late, our guest will have to wait for an opening in our WCHI schedule.

We are fully booked on both distribution days. We genuinely appreciate our guests arriving at their scheduled appointment time.

WCHI is 100% volunteer, and we are most grateful to our selfless volunteers who see the huge need for basic food in our community. Each one has stepped up and taken action to obtain all the state-required child abuse clearances to be a WCHI volunteer and work in our pantry. We have children attending the pantry, requiring the clearances.

These volunteers see the pantry attendance growing every month as food, gas, rent, taxes and, soon, home heating bills may be rising. WCHI needs many more volunteers to help stock shelves and take our guests through the pantry on the second and third Thursdays of the month, which are WCHI pantry’s distribution days.

WCHI volunteers will help you obtain your clearances by having you come to our pantry and use our computers to complete the requirements.

For more information, go to our website at tinyurl.com/WCHIvolunteer or email Sylvia at volunteerme.lee@gmail.com.

WCHI is asking our community to donate food or host a food drive for us to provide the food that we need. We request the following items: boxes of oatmeal; canned fruit with low sugar or light fruit syrup such as peaches and pineapple; canned corn; canned tuna; cereal; pancake mix and syrup; all kinds of pasta; and any kind of soup and spaghetti or pasta sauce in canned or plastic bottles. All food items can be store brands.

These food items can be shipped to or dropped off 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at my RE/MAX Unlimited office, 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall. The office is closed weekends.

None of us can do everything, but everyone can do something. Thank you!