Coplay Recreation & Welfare Association, one of the longest continuing community organizations in Coplay Borough, will hold its townwide fund drive all of July. It is fitting the fund drive is held in July since the group was incorporated July 1, 1955.

The 60-plus-year-old organization states its fund drive is in keeping with the group’s slogan, “Neighbors Helping Neighbors.”

With George Miller as its founder, Robert A. Hauke and John Zsigovits charted the association’s course for decades.

Having no set goal, as is the custom for years, the group shows the fund drive progress on the post office lawn via a plywood thermometer.

The drive now concentrates more on mailers, collecting at times over $8,000; with door-to-door solicitations, over $5,000 is raised, sometimes a bit more.

The association programs remain constant over the decades; its campaign funds a variety of projects, such as the Halloween parade, one of the oldest such parades in the region, going back to the 1950s. Other programs include a community Easter egg hunt, tree lighting and concert in December and the purchase of playground equipment.

The food bank the association operates in the basement of the borough hall is a major program to feed needy families and individuals residing in the borough.

The convalescent inventory provides residents, at no cost, with transporters, wheelchairs and a list of other equipment in a time of need and illness recovery. It also comes to the aid of those having an emergency, a fire, the inability to pay a utility bill or experiencing some unforeseen tragedy.