Shari's Update - 8/1/21

​WCHI is delighted to be helping so many Whitehall and Coplay food insecure residents through both our Food Pantry and our Summer Children’s Feeding Program (CSFP).  We could not do any of these programs without our wonderful volunteers and the community’s financial and product support.  Thank you!!
 
Just a reminder that our Food Pantry is open for “Drop and Go” pick up next Thursday, August 12th, in the St John the Baptist Parking lot, 3024 S Ruch St, Whitehall from 11am-1pm and 5:30-7:00 pm. Masks may be required again. Any food insecure Whitehall and Coplay resident can come and receive dry food, frozen and refrigerated food, toiletries (when available),  baby food, and  cat/dog food for the household.  ID is required i.e. valid driver’s license or utility bill showing you are a Whitehall-Coplay resident. We are always so happy to see both new and repeat attendees.  Our guests are warmly welcomed and all are so happy that WCHI is providing much needed food to them.
 
Please encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to come on August 12th.  If someone cannot come during our scheduled times -- due to working, having no transportations, etc-- please have them call me at 484-225-0358. I always make sure we work something out so everyone has food.  NO ONE SHOULD GO HUNGRY especially with our WCHI programs in place for Whitehall and Coplay residents.  Please encourage people in need to call me or call me yourself.  We definitely are here to help.
 
Needed toiletry items include: bath and hand soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, deodorant, sanitary napkins and pads, adult and baby diapers, and dish/clothes detergent. These items can be dropped at my Re/Max Office, 1080 Schadt Ave, Whitehall M-F 9-5, Sat 9-1, Sun 10-1.
 
When we opened our Food Pantry in January 2021, we served 54 Whitehall and 37 Coplay households comprised of 113 children, 141 adults, and 54 seniors (age 60+) for a total of 308 people.  Our monthly totals since were steadily increasing.
 
Michelle Khouri, WCSD Registrar, received permission from Asst. Superintendent, Chris Schiffert, to do a robo call, text, and e-mail to all 2070 free and reduced rate breakfast & lunch recipient households to let them know about both our CSFP and our food Pantry a couple days before our July food Pantry distribution.  Also, WCHI volunteers provided Pantry fliers at our CSFP the day before the Pantry distribution. Thanks to both the robo calls and the fliers, our pantry numbers soared to serving 427 people in July!! 
 
In July, WCHI’s Pantry served 88 Whitehall and 30 Coplay households comprised of 170 children, 179 adults, and 78 seniors!! That is a 28% increase in 7 months!!  WCHI will be handing out fliers again and we are hopeful Michele will be able to do another robo call next week.  We pack for 144 households and hope to feed 500 Whitehall and Coplay residents next week!!
 
We are providing free books through August 28th at our all our CSFP sites and also provided Christmas in July toys to every child attending our sites last week.  The toys were donated from Steve Parish, Financial Advisor at Edward Jones Whitehall location from his Customer Appreciation Day Party.   Thank you to Steve and his clients!!! 
 
The following is the number of total children who attended at least once time in both June and July at the CSFP location closest to their home:  Cementon 9, Coplay 30, Egypt 9, Fullerton 51, Maryland Circle 58, and Mickley Run 71.  Adding all the locations together, we served 228 children at least once. Some children came once and done, some came a myriad of times, others came every distribution.   This was the average children attendance at each location for the eight distributions in July:  Cementon 4, Coplay 9, Egypt 2, Fullerton 14, Maryland Circle 18, Mickley Run 17.  Our bagged food is shelf stable and provides 4 breakfast and lunch meals on Mondays and 6 breakfast and lunch meals on Wednesday.  The food will last at least for 6 months.  We encourage households to attend our two weekly distributions to add our food to your P-EBT purchases for your kitchen pantry.  We have the capability of serving a minimum of 500 Whitehall and Coplay children, a baby through age 18 every Monday and Wednesday from 10-11am. Our CSFP ends on August 25th.  If you are working or do not have transportation, please call/text me at 484-225-0358.
 
Our Public Meeting held on July 27th to work on WCHI’s Free Community Meals was very well attended.  We had many repeat and many new faith based organizations represented.  We are adhering to both PA Dept of Agriculture (they control all the food in PA) and Feeding America (Second Harvest Food Bank) Guidelines so we can safely feed people.   Some faith based entities are still shut down, some are partially open and, others are fully open.  With the rise in the Corvid Delta variant cases in the Lehigh Valley, we are all making sure everyone is safe before opening inside.  If we can open this fall, our meals may need to be “Drop and Go” hot boxed meals. We will have more info for you on the meals by the end of August.