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WCHI Pantry Garden Article – September 7, 2023
Contributed by Gwen Herzog, WCHI Pantry Garden Chair August has been a very full month at our WCHI Pantry Garden! Hot days, warm nights, and a good amount of rainfall have helped our plants continue to produce incredibly well. We have been routinely picking zucchini and yellow squash and until just the fourth week of August, they had not slowed down production. We were fortunate to be able to offer all August Pantry guests a variety of fresh Pantry Garden vegetables including zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, red beets, radishes, and parsley in addition to cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and apples donated by our generous community gardeners. Combined with the produce boxes, lettuce, onions, lemons, and grapes we received from Second Harvest Food Bank, it was a cornucopia of fresh produce for all guests! We were also able to supply some of our Pantry Garden produce to WCHI’s community meal at the Whitehall Bible Fellowship Church and to other food pantries in our area. During our work night on August 1st, pantry garden neighbors, Walter and Stella, walked down for a visit. In addition to donating items grown in his garden, Walter brought cleaner and brushes and generously scrubbed the algae and mud from our shed while Stella, his dog, patrolled for groundhogs. Our shed looks brand new thanks to Walter! Thanks to Michael Agrippine and the Whitehall-Coplay Press for featuring our Pantry Garden in the August 17th edition. Mike stopped by the garden during a Tuesday work night to interview us and take photos, and I was pleasantly surprised to see us on pages one and two! I want to recognize and thank our amazing local gardeners who have generously donated their garden and orchard bounty! So far this year, with your generous donations, over 250 lbs. of fresh produce has been contributed to Lehigh Valley Plant-a-Row. Remember, our priority for donations is the WCHI Food Pantry and WCHI Free Community Meals, then other, local food pantries. Nothing goes to waste! Any amount of produce, large or small, is greatly appreciated. Please bring your donations to the vestibule at RE/MAX Unlimited, 1080 Schadt Ave., Whitehall, M-F 8:30 a.m.- 5 p.m. or call me at 610-379-6823 for other pick up or drop off accommodations. As I wrote in last month’s article, I was able to purchase broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and turnips from The Seed Farm’s fall plant sale. These were planted in available beds in the Pantry Garden, and with some metal rabbit fence, the plants have remained untouched! On 8/28 The Seed Farm reached out to donate more plants and herbs to our garden, so at our work night on 8/29, we cleared out our zucchini and yellow squash beds to make room for arugula, kale, Swiss chard, cabbage, turnips, pac choi, bok choi, endive, basil, and dill. We expect to plant these at our work night on 9/5. With continued sun, heat, and rain and without critter interference, we should be able to offer Pantry Garden produce to our WCHI guests throughout the fall. Finally, my article would not be complete without sharing our fabulous year-to-date Pantry Garden yield of 373 zucchini, 222 yellow squash, 24 bags of radishes, 65 tomatoes, 95 peppers, 7 bags of red beets, 42 eggplants, and a tote bag full of parsley. I hope your gardens have been just as successful. Have a great month!
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I wanted to talk about our 2023 WCHI pantry attendance and the guests we serve. This is just a snapshot of three months this year. August numbers are not completed as of press time.
JAN APR JUL Youth 0-17 351 347 356 Adults 18-59 420 453 433 Seniors 60+ 195 192 190 Total people served 966 992 979 Food items 5 meals/person 4,830 4,960 4,895 Total Households 251 260 251 New household registrations 17 13 13 Please take notice of the number of children, adults, and seniors we help monthly. We are feeding almost 1,000 guests a month. Guests do not come every month for a myriad of reasons: illness, no transportation, changes to work schedules, obtained a new job, etc. We would serve well over 1,200 people if every registered guest would attend every month. Our Mission is to alleviate food insecurity in Whitehall and Coplay. We feel we do a great job but can always improve. WCHI is please to consistently register new food insecure households monthly. We are here to help. Please, if you know anyone who needs food in Whitehall and Coplay, please tell them to call us at 484-225-0358 to schedule a pantry appointment. We are open the 2nd and 3rd Thursdays every month from 9:30am-1pm and 4:30- 7 pm. We promptly close the doors at 1pm and 7 pm. Many households do not have transportation. One guest rides a bike 1 mile to our Pantry and is extremely limited on what he can bring home. If you have a neighbor, friend, or family member who does not have transportation, can you please make the time to bring them? Or if you know or suspect someone needs food, can you offer to help them? Food insecurity is blind. Not many people will raise their hand and say I am hungry or can you help me. Many people do not want people to know their situation, are afraid what someone will think about them, or they are ashamed to ask for help. No one should be hungry in this country. And NO ONE should be hungry here in Whitehall and Coplay. Besides our WCHI Pantry, guests can also attend Whitehall Food Pantry at St Stephens, 3900 Mechanicsville Rd. They are open Mondays 6:00- 8:00pm by appointment. Contact 484-246-5715. Also, for Coplay residents, the Coplay Food Pantry, in Coplay Boro Hall, 98 S 4th St is open the 2nd Tuesday every month from 8:30-10am. Please contact Jodi at 610.262.0928. Second Harvest Food Bank is a major source of our pantry food but has been having low inventory for several months now. They provide food to 200 agencies in 6 counites. WCHI provides food for each of our guests to have meals for five days. WCHI relies on the public to donate needed food items. Our guests either like to prepare cooked meals and others like to have ready to eat food like tuna, soup, canned ravioli, etc. WCHI appreciates ALL donations: individual or planned food drives. We request the following items: Boxes of Oatmeal, Boxed Potatoes, Canned Fruit (Low Sugar or Light Fruit Syrup), Canned Tuna, Cereal, Condiments (mayo, ketchup, mustard), Macaroni &Cheese, Jelly, Pancake Mix & Syrup, Pasta (all kinds: elbows, spaghetti, rigatoni, rotini, shells, etc), Rice 1lb bagged brown or white, Ready to Eat Items (Canned Ravioli, SpaghettiOs, etc), Any kind of Soups (Including: Creamed, Chunky, Chicken Noodle, Tomato, Vegetable, etc), Spaghetti Sauce, Stovetop Stuffing Mix. All food items above can be store brands. These food items can be shipped to or dropped at my Re/Max Unlimited office, 1080 Schadt Ave, Whitehall, PA 18052 M-F 8:30am -5pm. The office is closed on the weekends. Thank you and have a great week!! Upcoming September WCHI events to put on your calendars along with good food info at the end of this article.
FREE COMMUNITY MEALS - WCHI, the faith-based community, and others are proud to provide these FREE, hot, sit-down meals to low-income Whitehall-Coplay residents twice a month. All are welcome to attend both meals on the 1st Sunday and 3rd Tuesday each month from 4-6pm. Please attend and bring your family and friends. These meals are delicious!! Sunday, Sept 3rd - Muslim Association of the LV (MALV), 1988 Schadt Ave, Whitehall 703-346-8698 Tuesday, Sept 19th – Whitehall Active Community Center, 2301 Pine St, Whitehall 610-533-1357 Questions about hosting a meal for 2024 or a guest wanting more info, please contact Karen Haberern, Program Chair at 610-730-3184. BINGO – Sunday, Sept 10th Doors open at 1 and bingo starts at 2 pm at St Peter Roman Catholic Church, 4 S 5th St Coplay. Jackpot is $200. Play 15 Board games and 5 paper specials. BYO chips and dabbers. Food is available for purchase. All proceeds benefit WCHI. Please bring a food item for our Panty. Any kind of canned soup would be great!! For more info, contact Liz Rogers, Bingo Chair at 484-274-6687 FREE CLASSES “LEARN TO EAT HEALTHY ON A BUDGET” – Sign-Up now for these classes with Julie Davitt, Nutrition Education Adviser, at Penn State Extension, Allentown 484-857-2736 or [email protected] Julie will teach the classes in partnership with WCHI in the white building behind our Pantry at 3024 S Ruch St, Whitehall. Classes run October 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th from 10am- Noon. Topics include-Delicious Recipes; Smart Shopping; Meal Planning and Preparation; Food Safety; and Nutrition. Learn more at www.extension.psu.edu/nutrition-links Upon class completion, each participant will receive kitchen tools and a certificate of completion. WHO QUALIFIES FOR THIS PROGRAM? Parent or caregiver of children who qualify for free or reduced school lunch or WIC. Adults who qualify for SNAP, food pantry boxes/bags, and Pennsylvania farmers market vouchers. 12 Simple Ways to Increase Fruits, Vegetables and Beans/Legumes at Meals from FeedingPA.org
Needed Pantry items: Any kind of canned fruit, canned soups, canned low salt mixed vegetables, and any kind of pasta. Please deliver to my RE/MAX Unlimited office, 1080 Schadt Ave, Whitehall Monday-Friday 9am to 5 pm. I hope you found this week’s article informative and interesting. Have a great week!! I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our selfless volunteers who helped WCHI with our June 8th and 15th food distributions. WCHI is feeding close to 1,000 people a month. We did not have enough manpower to help on these two dates due to many dedicated volunteers being on vacation. I extended an invitation for help, and we had more than enough volunteers to help us this month. WCHI is 100% Volunteer and has a 501C3 Public Charity status with the IRS. THANK YOU again to all our dedicated volunteers!!
WCHI always can use more volunteers who can help during Pantry Distributions or other times throughout the month usually on Wednesday mornings. We can also use help at our WCHI Garden. State mandated clearances are required for volunteers 18+ years old. If you are a Catholic Parishioner, additional read and sign forms are required. Children and youth 12-17 can volunteer with parent acknowledgement with a read and sign form. Please go to https://tinyurl.com/WCHIforms to review the necessary forms and requirements. I would encourage more people to join us by attaining these clearances. They are valid for 5 years once obtained. WE all get along and are like one big family!! There are a lot of behind-the-scenes activities that occur throughout the month i.e. 1. ordering and picking up food from Second Harvest Food Bank; 2. Purchasing food and toiletries from several local stores; 3. Loading our vehicles with the products and bringing them back to the Pantry; 4. These items then get carried by hand into the pantry and put on rolling racks and sent to their dedicated areas in the Pantry; 5. These items are loaded onto skids or rolling racks and marked State and USDA Food or general donations from the public; 6. Then the inventory is stocked on appropriate racks for our Pantry guests to choose from during distribution days. On distribution days, our volunteers do specific jobs including: 1. Welcoming our guests as they arrive; 2. Registering our guests; 3. Shopping with our guests throughout the Pantry; 4. Providing produce boxes and any additional produce, when available; 5. Providing dog and cat food when available; and 6. Unloading the bagged or boxed items from our shopping carts into our guests’ cars. WCHI’s Panty Choice Racks include: canned fruit; canned vegetables; protein (canned salmon, tuna, & chicken when available, a good selection of canned beans, and peanut butter); rice and pasta; cereal; grains like oatmeal and mac&cheese; ready to eat foods like canned/jar sauces, bagged chili, and soups; snacks; condiments; baby food and diapers; coffee (ground, whole bean and K-Cups when available); adult diapers, feminine products; toiletries: toilet paper, tissues and other items like toothpaste, when available; frozen food and refrigerated food like milk, cheese, and eggs when available; and 10 lb produce boxes plus bagged fruit; and dog/cat food when available. WCHI orders, receives, and distributes approximately 14,000- 18,000 pounds of food a month from Second Harvest Food Bank. We also get 2,700 pounds a month of fresh -10-pound produce boxes (June’s box included bagged onions, loose sweet potatoes, a squash, and a pineapple) and additional other fresh produce like bagged tangerine when available. With the current economy the available items have decreased from 250 a year ago to about 105 today. In May, Meals on Wheels of the Greater Lehigh Valley hosted a huge food donation event at their location specifically for WCHI. We were on site and received 2,000 pounds of food that day. Taylor Villas, a 55+ housing subdivision in Whitehall, also hosts several food drives for us, as does Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Egypt. All this donated food has been distributed in June. And just this week, WCHI received approximately 2,000 pounds of assorted canned beans from Catasauqua School District that was donated to them. We are extremely grateful for all the public support!! We currently need: canned fruit (not cups); small and large cans of tuna; cereal; mac& cheese; and any kind of pasta. Please note: a local store manager said the store brands are the same as the major names. Most are the same food; they are just packaged with the local store name. These are usually much cheaper, and we accept any donation. Monetary donations are also appreciated since we do purchase needed items. Please make your check payable to WCHI and write food in the memo section. Food and monetary donations can be dropped, mailed or shipped to WCHI-Shari Noctor, at my RE/Max Unlimited office, 1080 Schadt Ave, Whitehall, PA 18052. The office is open Monday-Friday 9-5 and is now closed on the weekends. Also, WCHI is part of Plant a Row Lehigh Valley. If you have additional vegetables you are growing in your garden or would like to donate a plant or two, these can be put on the table in my foyer. We will give these vegetables to our guests at our Pantry distributions and at our two monthly Free Community Meals. If the vegetables are donated at other times of the month, Gwen Herzog, our Garden Chair and Plant a Row Representative, will add the plants to our garden and will make sure the fresh vegetables are given to low-income people who will use them. THANK YOU ALL and have a Great week!!I I wanted to write this week’s article on Volunteerism. A heartfelt THANK YOU is extended to every one of our selfless volunteers, who help in so many ways to feed the food insecure residents of Whitehall and Coplay. I also want to thank the volunteers, who are not normally scheduled for distribution days, who helped while others were on vacation this summer. With everyone’s time and talents, our WCHI volunteers are feeding almost 1,000 residents a month. As our Pantry guest attendance continues to grow, we truly need many more volunteers to help WCHI both behind the scenes and during pantry day distributions.
There are a lot of behind-the-scenes activities that occur throughout the month i.e. 1. ordering and picking up food from Second Harvest Food Bank; 2. Purchasing food and toiletries from several local stores; 3. Loading our vehicles with the products and bringing them back to the Pantry; 4. These items then get carried by hand into the pantry and put on rolling racks and sent to their dedicated areas in the Pantry; 5. These items are loaded onto skids or rolling racks and marked State and USDA Food or general donations from the public; 6. Then the inventory is stocked on appropriate racks for our Pantry guests to choose from during distribution days. On distribution days, our volunteers do specific jobs including: 1. Welcoming our guests as they arrive; 2. Registering our guests; 3. Shopping with our guests throughout the Pantry; 4. Providing fresh produce from our WCHI Garden; along with any produce available from both Second Harvest Food Bank and grown by Whitehall and Coplay residents in their personal gardens; 5. Providing dog and cat food when available; and 6. Unloading the bagged or boxed items from our shopping carts into our guests’ cars. WCHI is extremely fortunate to have dedicated volunteers. Some are retired; some work and help when they can; and others work during the day and hep in the evening on distribution days. We have teachers and others from several school districts, that help us over the summer while school is closed. Several volunteers are students aged 12-17. And some of our pantry guests are working on their clearances to help us, too. “Volunteering is important for many reasons including stress reduction, combating depression and providing a sense of purpose. It offers essential help to worthwhile causes, people in need, and the wider community. Volunteerism is also important because it helps eliminate poverty and improve basic health and education.” Calvin Holbrook https://tinyurl.com/5dyk8xsu WCHI is a 100% volunteer based 501c3 Non -Profit Charity. No one receives a salary. Can you or someone you know volunteer with us? You will love your fellow volunteers. Because we do work with children, we are all required by the State to obtain full child abuse clearances. Please go to https://tinyurl.com/32cndjdw to find out more. Do not let the list intimidate you. Many are read and sign forms. We do reimburse for fingerprinting. I have completed the clearances in less than two weeks, and I have a full-time job. There is no time frame limit for completion, but all clearances must be received so we can email you volunteer opportunities. Once we have everything, the clearances are good for five years. Students, 12-17 years old, just need to read and sign a code of conduct form and a WCHI form signed by a parent. WCHI does have school clubs help us and individual students also. We do sign school forms for community service hours. Please email, Sylvia Lee, our Volunteer Chair at [email protected] with any questions you may have. WCHI needs the following food items: Any kind of boxed pasta; macaroni and cheese; chicken noodle, tomato, and vegetable soups; and low salt canned mixed vegetables. Fresh Produce is also appreciated from your personal gardens. These items can be dropped or shipped to Shari Noctor, Re/Max Unlimited, 1080 Schadt Ave, Whitehall, PA 18052. My office is open for deliveries Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm and is closed on the weekends. Thank you and have a great week!! 8/3/23 Pantry Garden article Contributed by Gwen Herzog, WCHI Pantry Garden Chair
What do you get when you combine sunny, hot days, warm nights, ample rain, great soil, well-established plants, and a great group of volunteers? You get one rocking garden! I am writing this article on July 27th and this week we were able to pick 47 zucchini, 22 yellow squash, 28 bell peppers, and 6 tomatoes. Our zucchini and yellow squash beds are really loaded up with plants and wow – they keep producing and producing. Even with all we picked in July, there is a constant supply of new growth which means a constant supply of new vegetables to pick. I’m not going to lie, when we were planting the seeds, I did drop 3-5 seeds in each hole I dug, so there are lots and lots of plants in each bed. So many that it can sometimes be a challenge to monitor and get in there to pick. I also think that from the time I arrive at the garden to cut the grass and when I get ready to leave, the zucchini have grown larger! I know this is not likely the case, but I’m sticking to my story. At the beginning of July, a large quantity of tomato plants in pots were dropped to Shari Noctor’s office. We promptly planted them in a portion of our “U” bed, caged, and watered them. While they are a little smaller than the rest of the tomato plants, they are growing well and about to flower. Thank you to our mystery donor for this great gift! As you know, with any vegetable garden there will be issues. After treating our eggplants for flea beetles, we are now seeing lots of flowers and a few small eggplants. The groundhogs have also seen the small eggplants and have taken a few bites, so this bed was fenced. In early July the leaves of our pepper plants started getting eaten prompting treatment, but pepper production has not been impacted. While it has been exciting to see some of our early tomatoes change color, the groundhogs have been eating the change. The tomato bed has therefore been fenced but it is not fully deterring these determined critters, so more aggressive action will have to be taken. As I mentioned in my last two articles, WCHI is a Lehigh Valley Plant-A-Row drop off center. If our pantry cannot give away donated produce through our monthly food distribution or at our free community meals, it will be shared with another food pantry. On July 24th we donated 18.1 pounds of vegetables we grew at our WCHI garden along with donations to the food pantry at St. Stephen’s Church. Don’t forget, any extra produce you grow will help to feed a food insecure household when you donate it to WCHI and Lehigh Valley Plant-A-Row. Call or text me at 610-379-6823 to arrange for pick up or you may drop it at Re/Max Unlimited Real Estate at 1080 Schadt Ave, Whitehall M-F 9 am– 5 pm. Although it is hot outside, we are planning our fall weather crops. Our plan is to get winter squash seeds into the ground very soon and try again to grow some cabbage and cauliflower. We plan to purchase some plants from The Seed Farm in Emmaus. Located at 5854 Vera Cruz Road, The Seed Farm will be holding their fall plant sale Saturday, August 12th and Sunday, August 13th. A partner of Second Harvest, plants are grown using organic practices. Why not try some fall crops in your own garden? We always need help to weed, water, plant, harvest, and control ground hogs. Please join us at the Mickley-Prydun Farm at 3540 South Ruch Street, Whitehall on Tuesday evenings at 6 p.m. We love having visitors! In case you were wondering, here is our year-to-date harvested vegetable tally: 129 zucchini, 80 yellow squash, 21 bags of radishes, 15 tomatoes, and 28 bell peppers. Happy Gardening! July 31st is National Avocado Day. WCHI offered frozen avocados to our Pantry Guests at both our July 13th and July 20th food distributions.
From FeedingPA - “Avocados are known for their "good" fats. Monosaturated fat, the main type of fat in avocado, can help reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in the blood which may help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. If you're a little unsure about giving avocado a try, consider adding some to a smoothie. It brings a delicious creaminess without an overpowering flavor. How to Cut an Avocado. You will need 1 avocado, a cutting board, a sharp knife, and a spoon is optional.
Below “The History timeline and more info on avocados from https://nationaltoday.com/national-avocado-day/ 8000 BC - Avocados eaten in Mexico. Archaeologists have found evidence that wild avocados were gathered and eaten in central Mexico. 3000 BC - Avocado trees grown. Researchers believe that Mesoamerican tribes like the Inca, the Olmec and the Maya grew domesticated avocado trees. 1696 - The avocado is named. Naturalist, Sir Hans Sloane, names “the avocado or alligator pear-tree" in his catalog of Jamaican plants. 1833 - Welcome to the U.S. Horticulturist, Henry Perrine, first plants avocados in Florida. 1950s - Into the mainstream. Avocados become commercially available in the U.S., with people mostly adding them to salads. WHY WE LOVE NATIONAL AVOCADO DAY They're extremely healthy. Avocados played a huge role in the health food revival in the U.S. a generation ago and for good reason. They're packed with potassium to keep your blood pressure lower, oleic acid for reducing inflammation, fiber for your metabolism and antioxidants that keep your eyes healthy. They're incredibly versatile in the kitchen. Avocados are nothing if not a culinary imagination booster! We're not just talking guacamole and toast. You can use them as a base for salad dressing, chilled soup, ice cream, pudding, pasta sauce, bread and lots more. 5 TASTY FACTS ABOUT AVOCADOS 1. Super treat -Football fans consume 53.5 million pounds of guacamole on Super Bowl Sundays. 2. Berry good - Because it's a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary, an avocado is actually a berry. 3. They're #1 - Avocados contain the most protein and fiber of any fruit. 4. Count 'em -There are 1,062 varieties of avocado. 5. Gator guac - In Jamaica, avocados were once called "alligator pears.” I hope you enjoyed this article. Have a great week!! UNDERSTANDING DATES ON FOOD PACKAGING
Second Harvest Food Bank selected WCHI to be one of four Healthy Pantries in Lehigh County, which offers healthier low fat and low salt products, when possible. WCHI obtains a lot of great information from both Second Harvest and PA Healthy Pantry Initiative (PA HPI), which is a project of Feeding America. I wanted to provide “Date Facts” since consumers get confused what the date on food products means. Baby formula only (not baby food) needs to be thrown out and not fed to a baby after its “Use-By” date, because at that time there is no more nutritional value left in the product. The information below comes directly from Feeding America - Resources for Pantries. “Product dating is not required by federal regulations except on infant formula. Dates are provided to help stores and people know when food is of the best quality. However, the dates are not indicators of the food’s safety. Understanding the dates can reduce throwing away perfectly good food. There are many different dates that can be found on food packaging. Here are some examples:
How can you tell if a food is safe to eat? If handled properly, a product should still be safe and wholesome even if the package date is passed during storage.
I hope you found this info helpful. I will be providing more interesting topics from Feeding America, Feeding PA, and Second Harvest Food Bank in future articles. WCHI requests the following food items for our Food Pantry: Canned fruit, any kind of boxed pasta, and condiments such as salad dressings, ketchup, mayo, relish, and pickles. Right now, we have enough mustard. Also. If anyone has an overabundance of home-grown vegetables and/or spices, they also can be dropped off to my ReE/Max Unlimited office, 1080 Schadt Ave, Whitehall Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. Thank you and have a great week!! I am pleased to provide statistics on our Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative (WCHI) Food Pantry attendance for the period July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023. All Food Pantries, that work with government supplied food, are on this fiscal year.
WCHI provided 48 food distributions. We report unduplicated data, which is counting households and guests only one time - no matter how many times they attend our Pantry. WCHI has accurate data for people registered for the entire year. Our unduplicated numbers for this fiscal year are: 485 households; 1,812 guests consisting of 688 children (ages 0-17); 843 adults (ages 18-59) and 281 seniors (ages 60+). Through our computer software, WCHI also has counted every guest that have attended at least two or more times during the year. These numbers are incredible and WCHI is proud to be helping so many residents - 10,844 people consisting of 3,910 children, 4,792 adults, and 2,142 seniors. WCHI sincerely thanks Second Harvest Food Bank (SHFB), the Lehigh County Commissioners for grants WCHI has requested and obtained, and the generous public who consistently provides us with both food and monetary donations. SHFB is not a grocery store, and their food items are extremely limited. Without all these partners working with WCHI, we could never feed as many people as we do. Thank you everyone!!! Our Pantry is open the 2nd and 3rd Thursday of the month 9:30-1 pm and 4:30-7 pm by appointment only. We close the doors promptly at 1 and 7pm. Our reservations are usually 95% reserved. Guests sometimes forget their appointments, get sick, or do not have transportation that day. New guests are always welcome, but appointments are strongly recommended. WCHI works indirectly with USDA through the PA Dept of Agriculture and though SHFB to provide food to our income eligible guests. “The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is a federal program that helps supplement the diets of low-income Americans, including elderly people, by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost. Through TEFAP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) purchases a variety of nutritious, high-quality USDA Foods, and makes those foods available to state distributing agencies. The amount of food each state receives out of the total amount of food provided is based on the number of unemployed persons and the number of people with incomes below the poverty level in the state. States provide the food to local agencies that they have selected, usually food banks, which in turn distribute the food to local organizations, such as soup kitchens and food pantries that directly serve the public. These funds must, in part, be passed down to local agencies. TEFAP is administered at the federal level by the Food and Nutrition Service, an agency of the USDA. Updated: 01/06/2020” https://www.fns.usda.gov/tefap/tefap-fact-sheet I wanted to explain briefly how we qualify each of our Pantry guests. Since we are now in July, new PA Dept of Agriculture “Self-Declaration of Need” forms must be updated for each household receiving food from our Pantry. Typically, this form is reviewed and signed once a year. “The Emergency Food Assistance Program is operated in accordance with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) policy, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. Eligibility is based upon the income guidelines listed below. The recipient circles the entire line that applies to their Household Size, understanding they must be at, or below, the income level indicated to be eligible for program benefits.” I am happy that the household income limits were increased for the new fiscal year. The Total Household Income is based on 185% of Poverty. This month our guests will verify their income as mentioned on the forms (no proof of income is required at the time of registration). The guest then signs digitally, which is applied to their registration form in our computer software program. The process goes seamlessly but will add approximately 5 minutes per guest at registration. The household income is based on the day the guest comes into the Pantry. If their income goes up and they no longer qualify, the guest needs to let us know and WCHI cannot give them food. On the other hand, if a person has had a decrease in income and now, they qualify, they need to contact us to make an appointment to become a new guest. We have this many times with seasonal workers. WCHI is here to help food insecure Whitehall and Coplay residents. Please call us at 484-225-0358 with any questions. Submitted by Gwen Herzog, Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative’s Vegetable Garden Chair
It has been another exciting month for the Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative Garden. When we were finally graced with early June rain, all our vegetable plants began to flourish! We now have small peppers on our plants, and several tomato plants have begun to flower. Our eggplants’ leaves started to become lacy due to flea beetles, so these plants were dusted. Some of the radishes started protruding out of the ground and we were able to pick about 90 so far. Although I am behind on thinning the red beets and carrots, both are growing well. The parsley may be ready for a small first cutting for distribution this month. Our beds of zucchini and yellow squash are really taking off and I anticipate by the time you read this article, we may have little ones hanging on the vines. What we need now are hot days, warm nights, and regular rainfall to help our gardens grow. Fingers crossed! One major addition to the pantry garden is a new rainwater collection system. Thank you to the Whitehall Township Public Works Department for installing a rain gutter on the back of our shed with down spouting into our water storage tank. Installation was completed Thursday, June 22nd just in time for the weekend’s rain and as a result, our tank is now filled to the top. Many, many thanks to the Public Works team and to Mayor Harakal for supporting this valuable project! I also want to thank the Hockey Fire Department and our volunteers who brought water to the garden during the dry spring season. If you use the Ironton Rail Trail loop, you have surely seen our WCHI Garden. Like me, you have probably also wondered why we have so many grassy areas inside the garden fence compared with the amount of planting beds. Yes, we have space and opportunities. One of our garden volunteers has been working on clearing a space for another bed. In fact, this newly created space is almost ready to use. Due to its proximity to the outer fence, we discussed possibly having to protect it from deer. As luck would have it, in mid-June we received a donation of used fence posts and mesh fencing from our Pantry volunteers Pat and Bob, which will be perfect to use around this new bed. Speaking of planting new crops, we kept our “U” shaped bed open in anticipation of receiving donated vegetable or herb plants. If you find that you have any extra plants, please drop them at Shari Noctor’s Re/Max Unlimited office at 1080 Schadt Avenue, Whitehall, PA or give me a call at 610-379-6823 to arrange for pick up. In last month’s article, I announced that the Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative is now part of the Lehigh Valley Plant-A-Row community. The week of June 19th, neighbors of mine, Fran and Walt, donated 4 lbs. of garden lettuce which we were not able to immediately distribute at WCHI. Fortunately, we used the Plant-A-Row community network and shared it with another local pantry that was distributing food the next day! As a reminder, any extra, fresh produce from your garden or orchard that you donate will first be distributed at our WCHI Pantry or at our Free Community Meals. If neither of these events will be taking place within a few days, your donation will be shared with local Plant-A-Row pantries that will be able to immediately distribute it. Nothing will go to waste. Fresh produce may be donated at Re/Max Unlimited and placed on the table in the foyer or give me a call me at 610-379-6823 to arrange for pick up. Have a great July and happy gardening! |
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