'Stamp Out' Date SetLetter carriers of the U.S. Postal Service will be doing more than picking up your mail May 14. Each year, all across the nation, carriers take one day and make a great effort to stamp out hunger. Kosciusko County residents are asked to join on this day and “hang a bag of food for the hungry” on your mailbox. Your local postal workers, in conjunction with The United Way of Kosciusko County, Campbell’s Soup Company, the local post office and Kosciusko residents will participate in this year’s “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive. It is the largest one-day, national food drive and gives people in the community the ability to donate to their local food pantry without traveling any further than their own mailbox. The post offices in Warsaw, Winona Lake, Claypool, Silver Lake, Milford and Leesburg will work together this year to collect food for local pantries. Last year, 11,200 pounds of food items were distributed to local emergency pantries to replenish depleted supplies. To take part in this event, all residents need to do is place a bag of non-perishable food items such as canned goods, cereal and rice on their mailbox before their letter carrier delivers the mail on that day. Baby food in plastic containers and diapers that are collected will go to Heartline Pregnancy Center for children in need. All donations of baby food and formula need current food dates or it cannot be used. The letter carrier will do the rest. Carriers ask that you do not include fresh, perishable food or any glass containers, as they may spoil or break before reaching the pantries. The food will be taken to the post office and divided between the five, countywide emergency food providers in Kosciusko County. The local food pantries are Salvation Army, Combined Community Services, Mary & Jerry’s Helping Hands, Our Father’s House and Heartline Pregnancy Center. Ken Locke, of the Salvation Army, said, “Especially in tough times, each one of us is responsible for our neighbors. The food drive committee is asking you to take the easy way out and hang a bag of food for the hungry in Kosciusko County.”
