Our Mission: 
The mission of the Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative is to alleviate food insecurity in Whitehall and Coplay. ​

Our History:

• August of 2014 - Shari Noctor was asked to a attend Communities that Cares (CTC) Meeting.  At that meeting, CTC was reviewing data and looking for the top four risk factors affecting students from a 2013 Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) given to 6th, 8th, 10, & 12th grade students at the Whitehall-Coplay School District. Hunger was one of the four risk factors chosen to work on.   At that time 16.1% of 6th graders worried about where their next meal was coming from and 12th graders stated they skipped at least one meal a week.  Shari became the hunger committee chair addressing Hunger in Whitehall and Coplay.   
• February 2015 - Shari partnered with Second Harvest and Leah Saliby. Leah started an amazing Snack Pack Pal program at WCSD giving the most food insecure children additional food on long weekends (Thanksgiving, Winter Holiday, Martin Luther King and President’s Day weekends, and Spring break) to help feed them until they were back in school to receive the school’s free breakfast and lunch program. 
• June 2015 -  There was a discussion about holding monthly free community meals.  Shari started working with faith based organizations to help with the community meals. In October 2015, working with Judy and Shel Ehret of Faith Lutheran Church, WCHI scheduled a free community meal for the 3rd Tuesday of each month in 2016.
• October 2015 - with the formation of a separate organization, the Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative (WCHI) became a separate entity in 2016. CTC and WCHI continue to work together. 
• 2017 - our free community meals served 1,300 guests; Summer Breakfast Camp provided 1,610 meals; and the Snack Pack Pals program provided 1,600 food packs, which included over 26,000 food items.
  
• 2017 - the WCHI also became a 501c3 public charity.
  
• 2017 - WCHI opened a free summer breakfast camp for food insecure school age children in Whitehall.  This ran 10 weeks when school was closed during the summer Monday through Friday 8:30 to 10:00 am.  Children received a hot or cold breakfast, had to read at least for 15 minutes to prevent the summer slide, and have fun camp activities. Children left daily with a bag lunch and on Friday’s also received a bag of food for the weekend.
  
• 2018 - we added two additional Camp locations – one in Egypt and one in Coplay.   Last year we continued two locations in Whitehall and Coplay.

Today, we continue to partner with CTC, Second Harvest, Leah Saliby, our faith based community meal providers, our summer breakfast camps, among other programs including Mary Spieker’s Snack Pack Pal program at St Elizabeth’s Regional School, our current Community Outreach Program created due to Covid-19, and a brand new Mickley Run Outreach Program.
When Coivd -19 is lifted, we will resume our monthly meetings, which are open to the public at Faith Lutheran Church, 3355 MacArthur Rd, Whitehall on the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 11:00-12:30.  WCHI has over 500 participating members and partners.  Would you like to be a part of our organization? Contact us

www.whitehallcoplayhunger.org    Call/Text Shari Noctor 610-730-8067

Copyright © 2020 Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, the content of this Site, including the design, text, graphics and the selection and arrangement thereof, is the property of Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative. The reproduction of any materials contained on this Site without the prior written consent of Whitehall Coplay Hunger Initiative, or in the case of third party materials, the owner of that content, is strictly prohibited. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from any content on this Site.


WCHI Public Meetings:
All are invited on the 4th Tuesday of the month (no meeting in December) in our Pantry, 3024 S Ruch St, Whitehall from 11AM-12:30PM. Park in the back parking lot and walk down the driveway between the school and the rectory and come in the first door on the left.