Shari's Updates - 9/27/20

​The LV Food Policy Council, of which I am a member, has said many times over the summer that food insecurity (which has been enhanced by Covid-19 job losses) will increase in the fall.  This has now become a reality here Thursday at our Community Outreach Program (COP).  Both the Coplay and the Whitehall locations ran out of pre-bagged food for the first time since we started providing much needed food in March.  Whitehall quickly prepared bags to distribute since they house our temporary pantry at their location. For the Coplay residents who did not receive food Thursday night, I delivered much appreciated food to them Friday morning.
 
Below are numbers from our last four food distributions.  Total people and households served increased 13% last week from 9/10.

Date	Children	Adults	Seniors	Total People	Households
8/13	200	245	68	513	148
8/27	205	246	68	519	147
9/10	209	232	65	506	144
9/24	238	257	83	578	165

COP closes after the 10/22 distribution for the safety of our guests and volunteers. It will be dark for the 6-7pm shift and too cold for residents to wait in line.  I have been looking for a new Pantry site to move our operations to a permanent location. St John’s Lutheran Church in Whitehall has been gracious to allow us to use their social hall since March.
 
I am very excited to inform you that St John the Baptist Catholic Church, 3024 Ruch St, and I are in discussions for WCHI to open a much needed Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative Food Pantry in the Christ the King School cafeteria to continue feeding food insecure Whitehall and Coplay residents.  Though not finalized, we are moving towards a formal written agreement.  The Whitehall Food Pantry, which feeds on average 15-18 households weekly, has decided to remain independents
 
Just as we have been working since March, moving forward many volunteers are needed to unload our truck from Second Harvest, unpack all the food donations (including the public’s generosity), sort, and repack the food in drop and go bags/boxes, and distribute the food to the residents.  We are excited to be working with St. John the Baptist, but we need your help. This has just been announced to the WCHI Board on Saturday. All my Coplay volunteers want to open this food pantry and can’t wait to get their clearances.   Whitehall’s volunteers and everyone on my e-mail data base have been contacted tonight.
 
The Catholic Diocese Of Allentown requires since we are on Church property that all our volunteers must provide the following required child abuse clearances.  These are not hard to complete, FREE to you, and once completed they are good for 5 years.

• FBI Fingerprinting (pre-paid code provided by and paid by the Diocese)
• State Police Criminal Record Check (PATCH)
• Child Abuse History Certification Clearance (pre-paid code provided and paid by the Diocese)
• attend a Protecting God's Children Program (in person or online workshops are available)
• Mandated Reporter Training (in person or online)
• Read Code of Conduct (on Allentown Diocese website)
• Read Sexual Abuse Policy (on Allentown Diocese website)
• Read Child Protective Service Law Policy (on Allentown Diocese website)

If you are interested in helping WCHI move closer to opening this much-need Pantry to help food insecure  Whitehall and Coplay food insecure residents, please fill out the form located here.
 
This week’s food items include:

• Raman Noodles bricks
• 15oz canned pasta (Spaghettio's, Chef Boyardee)Individual Mac & Cheese 
• Individual Oatmeal packs
• Fruit Snacks
• Individual Cereal boxes/ cups
• Juice Boxes /Pouches
• Large Cereal boxes
• Knorr's Sides

• Toilet Paper

Please shop at Boscov’s at the LV Mall on October 14th and 15th 9am-9pm. With their Friends Helping Friends Program, please mention Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative when you checkout and we will receive 5% on your total purchase.