Every second Saturday in May, letter carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns across America collect food items that are directed to those in need. By doing this, they capture the goodness and compassion of their postal customers, who participate in the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) help with Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive. It’s the largest one-day food drive in the nation.
In Vicksburg, Schoolcraft and Climax the letter carriers have participated for many years. Postal patrons will receive a notification in May on how to donate according to Vicksburg’s Postmaster Travis Graham.
They get plenty of help from the rural letter carriers, other postal employees and other volunteers with the drive Graham said. The nationwide drive has delivered more than one billion pounds of food the past 25 years while locally at least hundreds of pounds of food has been collected for the South County Community Services food pantry, according to Danna Downing, executive director.
Carriers will collect whatever is left by mail boxes and transport it to SCCS where the food gets organized and stocked on the shelves by volunteers. “It literally takes an army of people to help sort the amount of food collected. The most important thing is to make sure the expiration dates on cans or boxes of mix are not outdated, Downing pointed out.