This week’s article is to thank Kelly Lutterschmidt, editor of the Whitehall-Coplay Press, Catasauqua Press and Northampton Press, and her editorial assistants, Stacey Koch and Samantha Anderson.

Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative has been blessed that Kelly already recognized food insecurity in our area when I started writing articles in 2014. Together, we have shared good information with The Press newspaper readers.

In our articles, WCHI provides information on a variety of food-related topics. Our free community meal dates and locations are also listed in the Happenings section of the paper. For years, Kelly has put our WCHI articles in all the three papers to show that there is indeed food insecurity everywhere, not just in Whitehall and Coplay.

In years past, people would comment to me that Whitehall and Coplay do not have a food insecurity problem. By educating residents though these articles, many people now recognize we do have a hunger issue in our area. Readers have now stepped up to support WCHI help our community through volunteering and/or making food or monetary donations.

The Press’ readership goes beyond Whitehall and Coplay. People who have moved out of the area still receive the newspaper by mail or by visiting lvpnews.com. Some have contacted me, thanking WCHI for making a difference in people’s lives. Additionally, some people make memorial requests in the obituary section, asking contributions be made to WCHI. We have received monetary donations from all over the country, thanks to the paper’s readership.

How did I get into writing articles for Whitehall-Coplay Press? I already was writing for the paper when I was the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life chair 2012-14. When I started WCHI in 2014, I wanted to be able to continue writing monthly newspaper articles in The Press. I asked Kelly about writing various informational hunger articles while focusing on Whitehall and Coplay residents.

She agreed, and the monthly articles continued until COVID-19 arrived.

Kelly then asked me to write weekly articles since COVID-19 impacted so many people. I wrote weekly articles until 2023. WCHI had grown, and we continue to have many more WCHI food-related topics to share with The Press readers. Now with WCHI’s garden chair, Gwen Herzog, and Jenn Dietz, WCHI’s healthy pantry initiative chair, the three of us take turns writing interesting weekly WCHI articles.

I usually put in the paper the food items WCHI requests. We currently need cereal, chickpeas (garbanzo) and kidney beans, chicken noodle soup, macaroni and cheese, oatmeal boxed packets, peanut butter and rice. These items can be dropped off in the foyer of the Re/Max Unlimited office, 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall, 18052. Monetary donations, made payable to WCHI, can be mailed to WCHI at the office address.

If you are hosting a food drive and dropping the food of in the Re/Max foyer, include your contact name and phone number.

Thank you again, Kelly, Stacey and Samantha. You, too, are making a difference in people’s lives.