News
For the third consecutive year, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is providing free lunches through its Summer Meals Program in Allentown and Quakertown, making sure no child goes without nutritious meals during the summer months.
The Summer Meals Program at St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Hospital runs through August 26, Tuesday through Thursday, from noon to 2 p.m. Lunches will be distributed “grab-and-go” style in the courtyard between the 325 medical office building and main hospital entrance, easily accessible from North Penn Street.
West Side Hammer Electric has again provided a generous gift of $10,000 to support and enhance the Summer Meals Program in the Allentown area. Luke Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer and Former St. Luke’s Allentown Campus Board Member, continues to lead by example with his dedication to community service and social responsibility.
“Connecting the children of Allentown to healthy food over the summer months is needed now more than ever. We are proud to partner with St. Luke’s to ensure these resources are available to meet the growing needs of our local families. It is a special honor to support the expanded services of this program through our philanthropic efforts,” says Cunningham.
The Quakertown Summer Meals Program will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays, June 29 – August 19, 11:15 am to 1 p.m., at the bus drop-off location for Quakertown Community High School. During the final week of the program, St. Luke’s will offer the Summer Meals Program at the St. Luke’s Quakertown Campus, August 23 - August 27, 11:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
St. Luke’s is also supporting the Summer Meals Program in the Upper Perkiomen School District provided by The Open Link with weekly CSA (community-supported agriculture) shares, newsletters and activities, and is a proud sponsor of Quakertown Park & Rec’s Camp in a Bag, supplying activities for the weekly program themes.
Penn Community Bank’s contribution of $10,000 expands the program by providing children with access to a wider variety of healthy meal options, weekly CSA and weekend snacks and financial literacy education and other engaging activities.
“At Penn Community Bank, we believe in the power of community and serving the greater good. That means partnering with local organizations making a difference, including St. Luke’s,” said Jeane M. Vidoni, President and CEO of Penn Community Bank. “We are proud to once again support the summer meals program in the Quakertown community and work to ensure food insecure kids in our community have access to healthy meals all year.”
Both the Sacred Heart and Quakertown programs will provide each family with a bag of fresh produce, a bag of food for the weekend and a weekly newsletter and activities.
The Summer Meals program was created in response to the Network’s 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), which revealed that these two locations are in the catchment areas of school districts where over 50 percent of students are eligible for free and reduced meals during the academic year.
St. Luke’s mission is to improve the overall health of the communities it serves. Thanks to the generosity of these two notable organizations – West Side Hammer Electric and Penn Community Bank - more children have access to food and other vital resources they need and deserve.
Media Contact:
Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org
About Penn Community Bank
Penn Community Bank holds more than $2 billion in assets, employs more than 350 people, and offers banking, lending and investments at 24 bank branches and two administrative centers throughout Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania. As an independent, mutual financial institution, Penn Community Bank is not publicly traded and operates with its long-term mission in mind: to help businesses grow and prosper, to provide financial resources to individuals and families throughout their lifetimes, to strengthen the local economy, and to partner with local organizations to act as a catalyst for positive growth in every market it serves.
About West Side Hammer Electric
West Side Hammer is a full service electrical contracting company serving the eastern Pennsylvania region with expert staff, and fully trained, experienced, and equipped personnel. Our reputation is built upon integrity, service, and workmanship, instilled by the hard-knocks lessons from the earliest days of our founding four generations ago. West Side Hammer Electric is proud to serve the Lehigh Valley for over 85 years.
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 17,000 employees providing services at 12 hospitals sites and 300+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue in excess of $2.7 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only regional medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 38 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 347 residents and fellows. St. Luke’s is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. U.S. News & World Report ranked St. Luke’s #1 in the Lehigh Valley and #6 in the state. Three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals are St. Luke’s hospitals. St. Luke’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health nine times total and seven years in a row, including in 2021 when it was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. In 2021, IBM Watson Health also named St. Luke’s among the 15 Top Health Systems nationally. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.
