Free Student Lunches with Help from West Side Hammer Electric and Wells Fargo

St. Luke’s University Health Network has launched a new Summer Meals Program in Allentown to make sure no child goes without a nutritious lunch during the summer months.

Children and teens ages 18 and younger can visit St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Campus from noon – 2 pm Monday through Friday (no meals available on Thursday, July 4) for a free healthy meal.

The program, also offered at St. Luke’s Quakertown Campus, was created in response to the Network’s 2019 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA). The CHNA revealed that more than 75 percent of students who live within a one-mile radius from the Sacred Heart campus in Allentown are eligible for reduced-cost or free lunches during the school year. When school lets out, these children are at risk of going hungry during the summer.

West Side Hammer Electric made a generous gift of $10,000 to support program enhancements and supply backpacks of food that children can take home each Friday to eat during the weekend. Luke Cunningham, President of West Side Hammer Electric and a former St. Luke’s Allentown Campus board member, was all smiles as he met some of the children receiving their lunch on June 28.

West Side Hammer Electric President Luke Cunningham distributes weekend meal bags during the Summer Meals Program.

“It is so important to all of us at West Side Hammer Electric to know that children in our community have a safe space to gather, have a nutritious lunch, and build meaningful relationships during the summer months,” Cunningham said. “The Summer Meals Program provides an outlet for them to interact with others and make new friends while improving their overall health and well-being.”

West Side Hammer Electric is a friend to Allentown schools and students. In 2018, the business partnered with Francis D. Raub Middle School to brighten up the Allentown building at no cost to the district. More than 2,000 new LED lights were installed throughout the school and gymnasium, so that students could learn and be active in a comfortable, illuminated environment.

“The children of Allentown hold a special place in our hearts,” Cunningham said. “Through the work that we have been fortunate enough to do with Raub Middle School, volunteering for ‘Reading Rocks’ at local schools, and now supporting the St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Campus Summer Meals Program, we are invested in their success—both in school and in life.”

Also supporting the Summer Meals Program, Wells Fargo contributed an additional $2,000. A generous partner of St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Campus, Wells Fargo is committed to innovative, sustainable initiatives that meet a community need. Thanks to their gift, the children who come to campus for lunch will have access to healthier meal options—during the week at the hospital and in the packs they can take home for the weekend.

The Summer Meals Program is located in the Physicians’ Lounge on the second floor of St. Luke’s Sacred Heart. Fresh produce from local farms will be available for children to take home on Thursdays and backpacks equipped with food for the weekend will be provided each Friday. Special options will be provided for children with food allergies or intolerances.

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.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,700 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 33 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 262,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & company was ranked No. 29 on Fortune’s 2019 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories. https://stories.wf.com/

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 15,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue greater than $2 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 created 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 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system with Medicare’s five- and four-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.  In 2019, three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals were St. Luke’s hospitals.  St. Luke’s University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health seven times total and five years in a row. St. Luke’s has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  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.