The mere fact the Whitehall-Coplay School District has 48.7 percent of its students qualify for a free and reduced lunch and new breakfast program (approximately 2,086 students, as of June 30, 2015) should clearly tell you we have a hunger issue here in our area. Please take this very seriously. Yes, we have hunger here in Whitehall-Coplay, and it is more extensive than you think. Besides kids, there are adults and seniors who are in need of food. How this occurred is for another story. The focus with this article is on our two local food banks, Whitehall and Coplay.

I have visited the Whitehall Food Bank, located at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 3900 Mechanicsville Road, a few times. The bank is open every Monday night from 6 to 8 p.m., and the manpower to help the families is provided by five area churches. Currently, the pantry serves 200 adults, which include 35 seniors and 100 kids monthly. Some of the kids are under five years old.

The Coplay Food Bank is located in the borough office at 98 S. Fourth St. in the basement. It is open the second Tuesday of the month from 8:30 to 10 a.m. It serves 43 people: 20 adults (which includes seven seniors) and 23 kids.

When you have 2,086 students qualifying for school food programs, why are the numbers not more staggering at these food banks?

Believe it or not, many of the families earn slightly over the state-mandated income levels, which does not allow them to receive additional food from a food bank. For example, the current income for a one-person household is $17,655 and for a four-person household is $36,375 per year. These are the working poor, and many of them have two jobs. The system has failed them. Other people are too proud about what they perceive as “taking a hand-out.” Others do not have transportation. Some people work the second shift and cannot make the food bank hours. More unfortunate is that many people do not even know that we have two food banks plus other programs that can help them.

At the Whitehall Food Bank, food is delivered by Second Harvest once a month. This includes a small amount of beef and chicken, canned goods, cereal and pancake mix, plus a variety of other items including cat and dog food. Second Harvest Food Bank began its mission to end hunger in October of 1982 as the Lehigh Valley Food Bank, a program of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley Inc. (CACLV). Unfortunately, 33 years later, hunger is still with us and, I believe, always will be. Second Harvest is a social service agency that receives funding from the state to purchase food. It distributes food to several food banks throughout the Lehigh Valley and many other counties beyond. Its food also comes from production overrun from many food corporations like Kraft Foods.

Second Harvest is a blessing in that it provides a majority of the food for Whitehall Food Bank. With Second Harvest donating food, there are limits to what participants may take home. For example, a family of four may take only two cans of fruit, four cans of soup, one eight-ounce bag of spaghetti, two cans of five-ounce chicken broth, one bag of white or brown rice, etc. There are other foods provided by Second Harvest for people to take. Other food donations are made to the pantry, and there are no number restrictions put on them.

Every Monday morning, Whitehall Food Bank volunteers pick up several cases of food from the Whitehall Wal-Mart. Other Whitehall businesses also donate food when they can: Weis Markets, Longhorn Steakhouse and Bone Fish Grill. Entenmann’s Bakery in South Allentown provides bread and desserts when available.

Area churches, local residents and businesses donate, as does the local Boy Scouts and the postal service. The food donations from the Boy Scouts and postal service have declined from 17,000 pounds to around 10,000 pounds of food in the last couple of years. Out of the 10,000 pounds received, this is cut in half since each donated item must be reviewed. Items past their expiration dates and opened food must be thrown out.

The pantry receives many open boxes of food. Many people have good intentions, but some just clean out their kitchen cabinets.

Every month, Whitehall puts out a list of needed items. This is what was on August’s list: tuna (they have none), jelly, pancake syrup (they have none), juice, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, mashed potato flakes, gratin or scalloped potatoes, pasta sides (rice or noodle), fruits (no applesauce, please), snacks - such as pretzels, crackers and fruit snacks - cake mixes and condiments. I read this list at a recent hunger initiative meeting. One of our members dropped off 24 cans of tuna fish and 12 bottles of pancake syrup two days later.

The Coplay Food Bank does not get any donations from Second Harvest or area businesses. They rely on Coplay churches, Boy Scouts, postal service and the public for food.

Since homegrown gardens are starting to peak, if you have any additional produce - tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, etc - please bring them to either food pantry. Remember, food banks are to supplement current food based on income. Participants can only get food once a month. By the time the fourth week of the month rolls around, many people have no food left. This is so sad in a country as rich as ours. Please put yourself in their shoes.

I am trying to get the 24 churches in Whitehall and Coplay to be the peanut butter church, the tuna church, the spaghetti church, etc. so that each can concentrate on donating one specific item to the pantry. There are other programs I would like the churches to help with, including meeting locations for teaching people how to prepare and buy fresh, healthy foods and how to stretch their money. And I would like to start community meals.

Awareness is the key here. We have a hunger issue. Let’s all work together to change people’s lives. For more information on the Whitehall Food Bank, contact Doreen Wagner at 610-443-0503. For information on the Coplay Food Bank, contact Louise Kren at 610-262-9351.

Please come to one of our hunger initiative meetings either at 11 a.m. or 7 p.m., Sept. 22 at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3355 on MacArthur Road, Whitehall. Residents, community leaders and business owners are also encouraged to attend. The food pantries are only one small area of hunger that we are working on. For more information on how you can help on our residents, please contact me at 610-266-5241.

Shari Noctor heads the Hunger Initiative program for the Communities That Care organization of Whitehall and Coplay.