Jerusalem UCC in Trachsville is ensuring that 23 families have enough ham and other trimmings for their Easter meal.

“This is the first time we did an Easter meal drive-through. We started this in 2019 with Christmas dinner,” said Steph Anderson, chair of the JUCC Family Pantry and church treasurer since 2010.

Church members Kelli George and Amy Shupp are also on the committee.

From these 23 families, they are feeding about 80 people.

“It includes older people that live alone and also small families,” Anderson.

Anderson and Peyton Waibel, a church member and senior at Palmerton Area High School, loaded the ham, disposable roasting pan, canned corn, yams, gravy, canned green beans, cranberry sauce, butter, milk and potato filling that was freshly made Saturday morning by church volunteers into the cars. Each family also received an apple crumb pie or cherry pie.

We’re here getting the meal for a family member,” said Lois Strohl, a JUCC member from Palmerton. “We are so appreciative of this help,” Strohl said.

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, JUCC did a Thanksgiving and Christmas meal drive. They also added grocery pick up events twice a year.

Since 2019, “We have donated about $15,000 worth of food,” said Anderson. “We receive donations from church members. We go shopping at Country Harvest, which gives us discounts.”

Anderson said the next grocery pickup will be during the summer.

“We include things like kids’ snacks, cheese and crackers and cereals. We realize the kids are home during the summer and looking for lunch and snack items,” said Anderson.