As the holiday season rapidly approaches, local food pantries continue to meet the needs of those they serve.

“We’re serving our people on a consistent basis,” said Stanley Haupt, executive director of Shepherd House, a member agency of the Greater United Way of the Lehigh Valley.Haupt said that for October, expenses were $1,850, and they had five donations that raised $1,450.He said they are running a total of 139 donations, and are up to $20,698.“We are planning an appeal letter to go out after Thanksgiving to our contributors,” Haupt said. “We did do some mailings last year because we didn’t have a state budget.”For October, Haupt said they served 889 households, 2,445 people, and 22,005 meals. He said they had 84 new families, which is pretty consistent with the numbers that they usually have.“We do see more activity as weather starts turning colder,” he said. “We’ve been serving people, and we try to encourage people to go to the community where their pantry is.”Haupt said there are pantries in Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Palmerton, Summit Hill, Lansford, Nesquehoning, Weatherly, Beaver Meadows and Tresckow.He said total household income is based on 150 percent of the poverty rate, and that monthly income levels are as follows: $1,485 for one person; $2,003 for a family of two; $2,520 for a family of three; $3,038 for a family of four; $3,555 for a family of five; $4,073 for a family of six; $4,591 for a family of seven; and $5,111 for a family of eight.Even as winter approaches, Haupt said the pantry “probably will stay at the same level. It just depends how much activity each of the pantries experiences.”“The pantries of Shepherd House do appreciate the support that they get from individuals, businesses, churches and organizations,” he said. “Those funds do play an important part so that we can remain open and operating when we don’t have state or federal funds.”Barb Brader, co-director of the Christian Action Council of Palmerton Area Churches, said donations received have been “really generous.”“We’ve been blessed with absolutely fantastic donations,” Brader said. “Country Harvest donates turkeys and chickens, and we get from local churches, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.”Brader said the pantry sees more people sign up during the holidays.“We see a big increase during the holidays, about 10 (more) families this time of year,” she said. “Nobody’s been turned away.”While things slow down somewhat from a donation standpoint in January, Brader said the “Souper Bowl” event that’s held goes a long way in aiding the cause.“We usually get cases of soup, so we don’t have to purchase it out of our limited funds,” she said. “Soup is a great thing for the winter months.”Brader said she believes CACPAC has “some of the best volunteers.”“The amount of hours to run a pantry is very time consuming,” she said. “We have the best volunteers, some of them are in their 80s, and the people work really hard.”Major Sharon Whispell, commanding officer of the Salvation Army of Tamaqua, said people in the area have “most definitely” been generous.“We have been receiving donations of food almost every day from Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, businesses, schools,” Whispell said. “Dunn’s also donated produce that we were able to give to 200 families, and we even received food from a couple of churches, (and) we have also received some ministry donations.”She said, “The need has been so generous that we were able to fill 135 food bags through those donations, and will be filling about another 250 bags through funding we receive from the Schuylkill County United Way.”Whispell saidthey need to bring proof of all income in the house, for everyone, and all expenses that have to be paid monthly. Through this, they have to show a hardship, she said.“With the winter months and the cost of fuel and heating and utility expenses with the cold, we expect the numbers that we provide for to increase by at least 5 percent, if not more,” she said.Whispell said at their food giveaway every other month they average about 150 to 200 families for Schuylkill County, and about 50 families for Carbon County, as they only serve those who live in parts of Carbon.