St. Luke’s Offering Summer Meals Program
For the seventh consecutive year, the St. Luke’s Summer Meals Program will be providing free lunches in Allentown and Quakertown to ensure every child in need has access to nutritious meals during the summer months.
St. Luke’s Community Health Department launched the Summer Meals program in response to the Network’s Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA), which showed that more than half of students in the Allentown and Quakertown Community School Districts are eligible for free and reduced meals during the academic year.
“At St. Luke’s University Health Network, we believe that no child should suffer the consequences of hunger,” says Bill Moyer, St. Luke’s West Region President. “Ensuring that every child has the nourishment they need to grow strong and stay healthy is fundamental to our commitment to community health.”
In Allentown, free grab-and-go meals can be picked up at Star Community Health’s Sigal Center on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays beginning at 11:30 am from June 17 – August 21, 2025. The Summer Meals Program in Allentown is supported by Hatzel & Buehler, Inc., formerly known as West Side Hammer Electric, which has been committed to making an impact in the communities it serves since the program’s inception.
In Quakertown, meals will be served Monday – Friday, 12 – 2 pm (except July 4th) at Free Fall Action Park (670 S. Main Street, Quakertown) from June 9 – August 22, 2025. This location will also be providing children with a bag full of non-perishable food each Friday to take home to their families. Students and families will also be connected to the Quakertown Farmers Market for fresh, local produce. Penn Community Bank has invested in St. Luke’s Quakertown Summer Meals since the program began.
The contributions from Hatzel & Buehler and Penn Community Bank support a partnership to oversee the program, ensuring children have access to a wider variety of healthy meal options, nourishment over the weekends, financial literacy education, and other engaging activities.
“The Summer Meals Program is a critical investment in the health and future of our children,” says Dennis Pfleiger, President of St. Luke’s Upper Bucks and Quakertown campuses. “By providing consistent access to nutritious meals when school is out, this initiative helps prevent summer hunger, supports child development, and ensures that every student returns to the classroom ready to learn and succeed.”
Separately, 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 throughout the summer.
To identify other food access points in Allentown, Quakertown, or other regions, please visit sluhn.findhelp.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 21,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue of $4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.
SLUHN 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 a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. The Network’s flagship University Hospital earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 11 years in a row, including in 2021 when it was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. In 2021, St. Luke’s was also identified as one of 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 SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
