Happy New Year from Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative Food Pantry! We have some highlights of the year to share.

As you may remember, WCHI is a member of the Healthy Pantry Initiative through Feeding Pennsylvania. The goal is to increase access to healthy foods and beverages, as well as provide information on chronic disease to food pantry clients. We encourage consumption of more nutritious foods through environmental changes, as well as direct nutrition education such as healthy food tastings, demonstrations and recipes.

An additional six pantries have joined the Healthy Pantry Initiative, bringing the total to 20 pantries in the program.

A survey that some of our guests filled out in the spring indicated many people appreciate receiving fresh fruits and vegetables and continue to request a variety of fresh foods. We regularly order bulk produce from Second Harvest Food Bank and distribute vegetables we grow in our WCHI garden.

Over the past two months, we have given out fresh mangoes, apples, pears, onions, carrots, cabbage, sweet potatoes and pineapples, in addition to frozen Brussels sprouts, blueberries and strawberries. We are proud of offering this great variety.

This year, the team at Second Harvest installed 14 new raised garden beds on its property, and it harvested 421 pounds of produce. The vegetables and 1,248 herb plants were shared with guests to grow at home, as well as ingredients in the food samples it gave at pantry visits over the summer. We were able to share some basil and tomato plants this year and hope to encourage our guests to grow some vegetables at home this year, too.

At WCHI, we enjoy sharing healthy food samples and recipes with our guests to highlight foods in the pantry that may be unfamiliar and also encourage everyone to try something new or get creative with new ways to prepare foods. Throughout this past year, we offered tastings of Stove Top spoon bread, oatmeal bites, tomato bruschetta, oatmeal raisin bars, vegan macaroni and cheese, cheesy broccoli soup, chili mac and cornbread pudding.

The survey showed 36% of those who responded tried a new food because of these offerings. That is the kind of progress we are happy to see.

While guests are shopping in our WCHI pantry, we talk with them to find out their dietary concerns and cooking styles. We do our best to help them make choices that fit their needs. We help educate our guests as they make their selections each month by paying attention to signage around the pantry indicating choices that are higher in fiber or lower in sodium and sugar.

Our guests reported the foods offered at the WCHI pantry help improve their health. Hearing our neighbors are working toward better health is reassuring us that our efforts are making a difference in helping our community.

Visit the websites FeedingPA.org and tinyurl.com/bdnufxx3 (Pennsylvania Healthy Pantry Initiative) to find recipes and learn more about how these programs are helping our neighbors.

Editor’s note: This column was written by Jenn Dietz, HPI chair and pantry co-manager.