The National Associa-tion of Letter Carriers will hold its 17th annual National Food Drive to “Stamp Out Hunger” on Saturday. The largest one-day food drive in America, the drive is held each year on the second Saturday in May.
Letter carriers will collect non-perishable donations from homes as they deliver mail along their postal routes. In 2008, the carriers collected a record 73.1 million pounds of food.
Donations will be collected Saturday at more than 1,400 local branches across the country by letter carriers, rural letter carriers, other postal employees and volunteers. The food will be delivered to local food banks, pantries and shelters that serve the communities where they are collected.
Postmaster Robert Fowler said the food collected in Union County last year was distributed among four different local food banks. He said this year the employees at the Union Post Office will get together and decide who the beneficiaries will be. The food banks will then be contacted and told when to pick the food up from the Union Post Office.
“If any food bank is interested in being in obtaining some of these food supplies, please contact me by calling 427-7638,” he said. “The other post offices in the county will do their own collection and distribution. If a food bank in those communities wants to obtain some of that food they should contact their local postmaster.”
The Lockhart Post Office can be reached at 545-6878. Postmaster Cheryl McNeace said that any Lockhart area church with a food pantry is welcome to call and ask about the food collected.
Jonesville area food pantries may call the Jonesville Post Office at 674-5600 while those in the Carlisle area may call the Carlisle Post Office at 427-3867.
To participate in the drive, leave your non-perishable food donation in a bag near their mailbox Saturday before your letter carrier arrives. The collections will be made during normal delivery schedules.
Those who want to make a donation but don’t get their mail delivered to their homes can bring it to their local post office Saturday morning. The Lockhart Post Office is open from 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Saturday; the Jonesville Post Office, from 9 a.m.-noon; the Carlisle Post Office, from 8 a.m.-10:30 a.m.; and the Union Post Office, from 10 a.m.-noon.
Most-wanted foods include:
• Canned meats (tuna, chicken, salmon),
• Canned and boxed meals (soup, chili, stew, macaroni and cheese),
• Canned or dried beans and peas (black, pinto, lentils),
• Pasta, rice cereal,
• Canned fruits,
• 100 percent fruit juice (canned, plastic or boxed),
• Canned vegetables,
• Cooking oil,
• Boxed cooking mixes (pancake, breads).
Residents are asked not to leave:
• Rusty or unlabeled cans,
• Glass containers,
• Perishable items,
• Homemade items,
• Noncommercial canned or packaged items; alcoholic beverages; mixes or soda; open or used items.
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