Shari's Update - 7/18/21

​I hope everyone has been enjoying your summer!  It has been a hot and humid one. I am happy when the rain comes to water our lawns, vegetables and flowers.
 
Please mark your calendars to attend our first 2021 WCHI public meeting next Tuesday, July 27th at 11 am in our Pantry, 3024 S Ruch St, Whitehall. You will learn more about our WCHI programs. At this meeting, I plan to schedule WCHI’s Free Community Meals to start in September 2021 through December 2022 with our Faith Based Community members and others who can host a meal.  Please attend. We need your help and input.
 
Our Children’s Summer Feeding Program (CSFP) continues every Monday and Wednesday 10-11am at our six locations for all low income Whitehall and Coplay children,  a baby through age 18. Last week, WCHI fed 129 children and registered 9 new households.  We want you to encourage more households to attend and receive a free bag of breakfast and lunch items that change all the time for each child in your household. We urge you to attend even though you have received the P-EBT stimulus money.  This bag of food includes cereal, shelf stable milk, oatmeal packets, tuna fish, mac & cheese, etc and will last unopened for several months. 
 
Our distribution sites are located at: (1) Coplay location-Redeemed Christian Church of God, 5 N 3rd St; (5) Whitehall locations: Park and Church Streets in the Egypt Community Church social hall parking lot; 3rd & Leisenring Streets in Cementon at the school bus stop; St John’s Lutheran Church, 835 N 3rd St at the door in the alley with the ramp; Maryland Circle at the school bus stop; and Mickley Run Apartments in the west parking lot closest to the 350 building off of Overlook Rd.  Please attend the site closest to your home.
 
Thank you to Courtney Brinkley, Kristin Quirk, and Rebecca McAtee who brought United Way’s LV Reads program to both our Maryland Circle and Mickley Run Apartment Children Summer Feeding Program sites on July 14th.  The children who attended that day received books, crayons, and a paper fan.  Books will be distributed at our other four CSFP sites the next two weeks.  And we will disburse books again to children at all six CSFP sites in August from book donations from United Way, the Whitehall Public Library, Cops & Kids, and the public. Reading over the summer is very important for school age children.
 
WCHI Garden is growing several vegetables for our CSFP.  Anne and Erik’s green thumbs provided over 100 pounds of zucchini, string beans, banana peppers and cucumbers for the children last week.  Some of the zucchini were 18-20 inches long!!  Thank you, Anne and Eric for maintaining and cultivating the garden in this heat and humidity. The children love receiving the vegetables!!
 
To go with Anne and Erik’s cucumbers, Julie Davitt, our Board Director from Penn State provided this cucumber recipe from USDA MY Plate https://tinyurl.com/8nj8hvew  Ingredients: 1 cucumber (large, peeled and thinly sliced), 2 tablespoons low-fat yogurt (Julie says you can use sour cream or mayonnaise), 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon dill weed (optional), 1 dash pepper (optional). Directions: 1. Peel and thinly slice cucumber. 2. Mix all other ingredients in the mixing bowl. 3. Add cucumber slices and stir until coated.  4. Chill until serving.
 
A heartfelt thank you again is extended to all our WCHI volunteers and our public food and monetary donors.   We could not do any of our programs without you!!