Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative Food Pantry opened Jan. 14, 2021. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we had outside food distributions through April 2022.

For 16 months, we efficiently planned food distributions 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4:30-7 p.m. on the second and third Thursdays of the month. We registered our guests manually on paper federal forms as two steady lines of cars came through the St. John the Baptist complex parking lot. We had multiple tables set up in the middle of the lot, and each line of cars came down the left and right side.

A week or two before, WCHI volunteers started bagging specific food types, such as canned fruit, vegetables, protein like tuna fish and chicken, cereal, etc. The bags were donated from Wawa in Whitehall.

On distribution days, our tables were set up, the bagged food was placed on the designated tables and the volunteers placed the bagged items in our guest’s cars as they stopped at each section. Volunteers brought out more bagged food as we needed to replenish the tables all day.

COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. WCHI was able to officially open our food pantry for inside distribution May 22, 2022. We look back on these 16 months and never want to go back to doing food distribution that way again for two reasons. This was a lot of manpower hours bagging, and every guest received the same food in the bag.

We are thrilled the Whitehall and Coplay residents are multicultural, and we are glad they now can select the foods they will eat and obtain the food item counts that correspond to their household size.

WCHI fed 10,274 people with a nine-month average of 1,142 people per month Jan. 1-Sept. 30. August was our lowest attendance with 913 people comprising of 242 households. We made up for it in September with the year high of 1,306 people from 335 households. This is the highest amount of people WCHI has served.

WCHI is a 501(c)3 charitable organization, and we are proudly 100% volunteer based. We cannot fulfill our mission to alleviate food insecurity in Whitehall and Coplay without the essential, dedicated work of every one of our selfless volunteers. This article is to thank and recruit more pantry volunteers to help WCHI achieve our mission.

I want to personally thank everyone for their kindness, time, generosity and willingness to help our neighbors and friends in need. We can always use more volunteers and are grateful we have community group members who also help us, including members from the Knights of Columbus, Whitehall Lions Club, Whitehall Area Rotary, Whitehall-Coplay School District SERVE and German clubs, along with many local church members and concerned citizens.

Feeding our guests takes a lot of planning and dedicated volunteers. WCHI orders 5,000-6,500 pounds of food a week before physically going to Second Harvest Food Bank to pick up the food almost every Wednesday morning. We also order and pick up food from our local grocery stores and toiletries from CVS.

On Wednesday mornings after the Second Harvest food order arrives at the pantry, some of our volunteers help unload the truck. Others put the cases on their designated wooden, labeled skids, while others stock our food shelves.

On distribution days, a volunteer checks in our registered guests. The guests are then registered in our computer program and given a scheduled appointment card with the date and time for the following month. WCHI is serving six guests every 10 minutes, so it is very important scheduled guests arrive slightly before their designated appointment times.

We have several volunteer shoppers who take each household through our pantry, and our guests select the food items they will eat. The number of items selected on a specific food rack is based on their household size.

We have two volunteers who distribute our refrigerated and frozen foods. Other volunteers take the food wagon outside where our guests meet them to get whatever produce is available from our WCHI garden or Second Harvest. That volunteer then helps the guest unload the wagon in their car and brings the wagon back in our pantry for the next shopper to take the next guest though our pantry.

Pennsylvania child abuse clearances are required and take a small amount of time to acquire. Once obtained, they are good for five years. Go to whitehallcoplayhungerinitiative.org to see the requirements under the volunteer tab. We have volunteers who can sit down at our pantry and help you get the clearances.

With any questions, contact Sylvia, volunteer chair, at volunteerme.lee@gmail.com.

Thank you, and have a great week!