The mission of the Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative is to alleviate food insecurity in Whitehall and Coplay. Our board of directors makes sure we stay true to our mission with all the programs we provide.

Since 2015, our community and others have noticed and appreciate what we do to help our Whitehall and Coplay low-income residents obtain food. Many hands work together to reach our goal. These hands include compassionate volunteers, wonderful faith-based partners, generous monetary funders and food drive organizers, WCSD students, local club organizations and our residents and local businesses who also provide monetary and food donations.

WCHI thanks and appreciates everyone!

All our efforts truly are helping the food-insecure households in our school district. We have grown substantially since 2015.

The two direct food programs we offer are our monthly food pantry distributions, which include senior boxes, and our free community meals.

The following pantry statistics show the unduplicated residents attending our food pantry for the period of Oct. 1-Dec. 31, 2025. Guests sign a federal government yearly income limit form based on the family size.

These are the income status statistics of our guests, based on the number of households and the total number of people we served based on the given date range — 21 households with 37 people earn moderate income; 112 households with 403 people earn low income; and 229 households with 897 people earn extremely low income. We served 350 households and 1,337 people during this period. Again, these are unduplicated numbers.

In December 2025, the WCHI Food Pantry served 307 households comprised of 430 children, 505 adults and 237 seniors, for a total of 1,172 people. WCHI served 1,233 people in November 2025.

Some guests come every month, but not every registered guest comes monthly. Some work during distribution times, some don’t have transportation, some are called into work or are sick, some have better-paying jobs and no longer need a food pantry, some move out of the area, and some go to nursing homes or pass away.

For a WCHI pantry appointment, call Pat at 610-442-1355.

Senior boxes are provided to eligible seniors based on government income limits. These amounts are lower than the food pantry limits. Each eligible senior receives a 35-pound box of additional shelf-stable food when they pick up their pantry food. WCHI has 43 active recipients and have six guests on a waiting list. Currently, Second Harvest Food Bank has put a freeze on accepting any new applications.

For more information, call Gail at 610-351-6412.

Our free community meals are sponsored by our local faith-based community and others like Whitehall Active Community Center and Whitehall Wawa. They are offered 4-6 p.m. twice a month, and the host site location changes for each meal.

In 2025, we served 1,813 meals to 1,780 guests. Some even had seconds when available. This was a 12% increase in meals served from 2024.

For more information, call Karen at 610-730-3184.

WCHI appreciates all the compassion and support our community has provided to feed as many residents as we do. Many more volunteers are needed for all the programs we offer.

For more information, email Sylvia at volunteerme.lee@gmail.com.

Thank you, and have a fantastic week!