Local postal carriers collect more than just mail on May 11… – Hometown Focus

You can make a positive impact in your community by simply leaving a bag of non-perishable food at your mailbox on Saturday, May 11.

Every year on the second Saturday of May, the postal workers leave on their routes, just like any other day. However, mail is not the only thing that letter carriers handle that day. This Saturday, May 11, is the day of the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

Letter carriers across the U.S., as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam, will collect food donations for local food shelves. Here on the Iron Range, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Iron Range Merged Branch 1058 will collect food items to support food shelves in multiple communities including: Aurora, Babbitt, Chisholm, Ely, Hibbing, Hoyt Lakes, Nashwauk and Virginia .

The premise is simple: collect all non-perishable food items and place them in a bag that you can leave at your mailbox. As the letter carriers follow their routes, they collect the bags you leave behind. From there, the food is distributed to local food shelves.

The food drive was first launched in 1993 and has since grown into the largest one-day food drive in the country. Tom Potocnik, food drive coordinator at NALC branch 1058, shared, “This food drive will help restock food shelves once donations slow after the holidays.” By simply leaving some non-perishable food items in your mailbox, you can do a tremendous amount of good for your community.

Your mail carrier will also accept checks made out to your local food bank if you would like to make a monetary donation in lieu of leaving food out. If you choose to donate food items, it is important that they are non-perishable and that you place them in plastic grocery bags so that the bags are not destroyed by inclement weather.

This food drive is a community effort coordinated by each local NALC chapter, and as such you will see volunteers from the local food shelves and even family members of the letter carriers all doing their part to make the food drive successful. “It’s a lot of work, but we also have a lot of fun with it,” Potocnik said.

This event is a really easy way to help those in need, so do something good for your community by contributing to the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Saturday.

Abbigail Pratt lives in Virginia and can be reached at [email protected].