By: Vanessa S. Holt
Every year, letter carriers across the country willingly take on an extra burden during their mail routes in May, as they pick up nonperishables for local food pantries as part of the Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
This year, the National Association of Letter Carriers has marked May 12 as the day for residents in over 10,000 U.S. cities and towns to donate goods like canned meats, fish, soup, juice, pasta, vegetables, cereal and rice and other items that have a long shelf life and last throughout the summer months, when donations to food pantries are badly needed.
According to the Web site www.nalc.org, the 15th annual NALC National Food Drive is the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Carriers nationwide reportedly collected 70.5 million pounds of food in the 2006 drive, the third consecutive year the effort has exceeded 70 million pounds.
In areas served by the Bordentown Post Office, donations can be dropped off at the 14 Walnut St. location any time leading up to the day of the drive, and residents can even drop off items the following Monday or Tuesday if they miss the drive on Saturday.
Last year’s donations topped 8,000 pounds, said Rob Lacey, a Bordentown letter carrier who has coordinated the drive locally for five years. Bordentown donations will be brought to St. Mary’s Food Pantry, which serves Bordentown area families in need.
"We get so much it holds them over for three or four months," he said.
Food donations in any amount can be left near residents’ mailboxes or at the curb, for letter carriers. Large donations can be picked up by a mail truck, he said.
In Roebling, donations can be left for carriers to pick up or can be dropped off at the post office on 51 Main St. from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Donations in Roebling will go to the Roebling Food Bank, said Acting Postmaster Bruce Kafer on Monday.
In Florence, donations can be dropped off at the post office at 400 Broad St. from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, or left out for letter carriers. Donations there will go to the food pantry at the United Methodist Church in Florence.
Since the program began in 1993, the NALC has collected over 765 million pounds of food for food banks.
NALC President William H. Young said that May is the month chosen for the food drive because the upcoming summer months "are a particularly critical time for millions of children whose school lunch programs are suspended until fall and their families must find alternate sources of nutrition."
