by Frank Lee
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Helping to feed those in need can sometimes be as easy as a walk to the mailbox.
The 24th annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive took place on May 14 and is the nation’s largest one-day food drive. It provides letter carriers, other postal employees and thousands of volunteers the chance to collect nonperishable food in their local communities.
“I know this is a nationwide food drive,” said Trina Dietz, communications coordinator for the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud. “But if you give to this food drive in the immediate St. Cloud area, the food is split between Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army.”
This year, a total of $440 in donations and 23,089 pounds of food were collected from St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Waite Park and Sartell by letter carriers, compared to the 27,841 pounds of food that was collected last year from those regions.
From St. Joseph, 1,144 pounds of food and $50 in donations were collected this year. And from Rice, 834 pounds of food was collected during the May 14 food drive.
The drive is held the second Saturday in May and comes just before many schools end their school years, which often means a suspension in subsidized meals for many students in need. People were asked to leave food by their mailboxes for letter carriers to collect.
“I think it’s a really good way to get the community involved,” Dietz said. “I don’t think there is ever a bad time to do a food drive.”
Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf collected more than $160,000 and 210,000 pounds of food during the annual Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign to help battle hunger in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, St. Cloud, St. Augusta and Waite Park.
“The need still exists,” Dietz said.
The availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food, or the ability to acquire such food, is limited or uncertain for one in six Americans, many of whom are in households with at least one person working, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers.
“As a mom, it’s always a good time to teach your children about helping others,” Dietz said. “Churches in Sartell, for example, do a monthly food drive that is shared among local food shelves, and I think that’s really important.”
Last year’s drive collected an estimated 71 million pounds of non-perishable food that was left in bags next to postal customers’ mailboxes, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers.
“You literally just put food by your mailbox,” Dietz said of the annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. “I literally made my donation last year in my pajamas. How much easier can you make it for someone to help others?”
Dietz said Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf is “consistently serving” 2,200 families a month.
“During the recession, we saw a big jump in the number of families using the food shelf,” Dietz said. “We haven’t seen the numbers reduce. The numbers have pretty much stayed the same in terms of need.”
Last year was the 12th consecutive year letter carriers have collected more than 70 million pounds of food, and it brought the drive’s grand total to more than 1.4 billion pounds of food collected, according to their national association.
“Kid-friendly food is always needed with the schools getting out: macaroni and cheese, SpaghettiOs, soups,” said Joyce Bell, a letter carrier and coordinator of the food drives in Central Minnesota, such as Rice, Becker, Big Lake, Foley, Little Falls and Monticello to name a few.
Bell wanted to thank Coborn’s for donating the bags to collect the food as well as wanting to thank area residents for donating on May 14 during the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
“It’s just amazing what the need is out there for food, but it’s very heartening to see people helping out,” Bell said.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers pose for a photo at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers help unload donated food at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food items from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers help unload donated food at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food items from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers help unload donated food at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food items from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers help unload donated food at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food items from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers help unload donated food at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food items from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers help unload donated food at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food items from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers help unload donated food at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food items from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers pose for a photo at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
Volunteers, letter carriers and retired postal workers help unload donated food at Catholic Charities Emergency Services Food Shelf in St. Cloud after collecting nonperishable food items from mailboxes in Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Rice and St. Joseph as part of the annual nationwide food drive “Stamp Out Hunger” on May 14.
