Local Agencies Benefit from Post Office Food Drive
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Five local agencies benefitted from the annual National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger food drive Saturday.
All across the country, letter carriers, in partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, collected non-perishable food items for families in need as the carriers delivered the mail.
The food items collected in Kosciusko County then were distributed to local agencies Combined Community Services, Salvation Army, Mary & Jerry’s Helping Hands, Heartline Pregnancy Center and Our Father’s House.
Ken Locke, Salvation Army, said it was coordinated through the United Way.
As the food started rolling in Saturday, Locke said the weather was perfect for the annual food drive.
“For every pantry, it’s a tough time of the year for food donations,” Locke said. “It’s perfect timing for every pantry to have it this time of year.”
In 2011, Locke said just under 12,000 pounds of food was collected. Recently, the average collections have totaled 10,000 to 12,000 pounds a year. This year, Locke estimated 8,750 pounds of food was collected.
“Whatever we collect,” Locke said, “it’s more than we had.”
“It all stays local,” said Jerry Secrist, of Mary & Jerry’s Helping Hands.
“The postal carriers union really are the ones that head this up,” said Locke.
Warsaw postal carrier Jeff Dotson said they’ve held the food drive for about the last 20 years.
“We’ve been doing it for quite awhile,” Dotson said. “We get several tons of food every year. It’s a good thing. The food pantries look forward to it. We appreciate everyone who gave and helped out.”
Stamp Out Hunger is one of the biggest food drives in the country, Dotson said. The largest amount ever collected locally was almost 15,000 pounds, he estimated.
“This year seemed down, but I’m not sure,” he said. “We just thank all who helped us with the day. We were able to get it to the food pantries in the same day we collected it.”
Bill Leslie, CCS, said their agency really appreciates Reinholt’s Town Square Furniture for use of their truck to transport the food items to CCS.
The food drive comes just as CCS is moving to its new facility Thursday. CCS is moving from 110 E. Prairie St. to its new building at 1195 Mariners Drive.
