Shari's update - 7/4/21

For the five days in June that we offered our Children’s Summer Feeding Program, we provided a bag of food to 170 children.  Our highest number of children served on one day was 115 on June 23rd.  The children and parents attend when they can.  These are the total number of children served by location for June:  Cementon 9; Coplay 26; Egypt 9; Fullerton 29; Maryland Circle 42; and Mickley Run 55.
 
We have the capability of providing food to a minimum of 500 children, a baby through age 18, every Monday and Wednesday.  Please spread the word to help us serve many more Whitehall and Coplay low income household children every Monday and Wednesday 10-11 am. Every day is a different bag of food.  After the 4th day, the food bag items will repeat again.
 
Our July 5th bag will contain a juice box, 1 can of chicken chili or beef stew, 2 small milk boxes, pancake mix, a nutrigrain bar, a 6 pack of raisins, and a small individual bag of cookies. Our July 7th bag includes 3 small milk boxes, peanut butter jar, a can of vegetable soup, a small box of mac and cheese, 1 applesauce can, snack chips and small sandwich style crackers.  Bag food items may vary and they are available while supplies last at our 6 distribution sites. 
 
We provided zucchini and string beans fresh from our WCHI garden at the Mickley-Prydun Farm this week while the vegetable supply lasted to the children attending our Children’s Summer Feeding Program.  The children’s faces lit up when they saw the fresh, green vegetables!!  A variety of WCHI produce will be given out this summer as they become available. 
 
Also, on July 8th our WCHI Pantry is providing our monthly food distribution from 11am-1pm and 5:30-7 pm in the parking lot of St. John the Baptist Church, 2024 S Ruch St, Whitehall.  Please expect long lines this week as we need to register everyone once again for Second Harvest and USDA’s new fiscal year which started on July 1st.  Please see our new sign in front of the Christ the King School where our Pantry is located.
 
Since we will have an abundance of zucchini from our garden this summer, we wanted to provide some ways to prepare this summer squash. Julie Davitt is a WCHI Board Director and a Nutrition Education Adviser (spelled with a E) at Penn State.  She provided this video from USDA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSKtPtW0X2o  which shows adults and kids how to make corn and zucchini pancakes.
 
Julie also provided these zucchini preparations from Katy Moscoso, Program Specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.   “Zucchini is one of my favorite vegetables because of how versatile it is. You can use this inexpensive summer squash in several ways when cooking and baking. I didn’t appreciate zucchini as much as a child, but now that I do most of the cooking at my house, I love how easy it is to transform this veggie to meet everyone’s needs! Below are a few of my favorite ways to use this tasty green veggie.
 
Sauté– I love to sauté diced or chopped zucchini in a little bit of olive oil with spices and other summer squash or tomatoes. It is a quick, tasty side dish that everyone enjoys! I also like using sautéed zucchini in recipes like Zucchini Hummus Wraps and Vegetable Quesadillas.
Bake– I like to add shredded zucchini to meatloaf, muffins and cakes. One of my favorite muffin recipes is the Chocolate Chip and Zucchini Muffins from Spend Smart. Eat Smart. My family also likes to have sliced zucchini baked in the oven with parmesan cheese for a crunchy snack.
Grill– Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and cook it on the grill with a drizzle of olive oil and a blend of spices. I use leftover grilled zucchini in pasta and on grilled cheese sandwiches.
Steam– If I want to have a lighter pasta, I make zucchini noodles with a cheap spiralizer I purchased several years ago at a home goods store. The noodles can be steamed and used as an alternative to heavy pasta dishes. When our daughter was a baby, I would steam zucchini to make baby food since it was inexpensive.
 
One of my favorite things about using zucchini in a recipe or as a side dish is that zucchini does not take long to prepare or cook. I love how zucchini takes on the flavor of what you cook it with, making it easy to prepare in a variety of ways. Grab a zucchini next time you pick out produce- you won’t be disappointed!”