Postal carriers' food drive Saturday

Area residents will once again have the opportunity to join in a nationwide effort to combat hunger.

The National Association of Letter Carriers and Rural Carriers "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive is set to take place Saturday and local mail carriers are once again planning to participate in the annual event, the nation's largest one-day food drive. Carriers will collect non-perishable food items that residents leave near their mailboxes.

Fort Scott Post Office Supervisor of Customer Services Todd McDermed said participation in the food drive is up to each post office across the U.S. All local donations go to The Beacon, a local food pantry and community assistance agency, to be distributed locally.

"Fort Scott has participated for several years now," he said. "Everything has always gone to The Beacon and it's worked out really well. It's nice to have a local food pantry."

All collected goods will be delivered from the post office to The Beacon for distribution to needy families in Bourbon County. Donations will also be accepted at the post office after Saturday. McDermed said donations of food have already been trickling into the post office - about 100 pounds of food items were donated on Tuesday.

"The PRIDE group from Fort Scott High School comes in on Monday morning with about 20 kids to help unload at The Beacon," McDermed said.

After all food items are collected, they are taken back to the local post office, sorted and weighed and later delivered to The Beacon. Each post office nationwide must report the total weight of the donated food received during the food drive.

McDermed said local carriers brought in about 4,700 pounds of food last year. Food drives in previous years have brought in as much as 5,000 pounds of food. McDermed said a goal this year is to top last year's total.

Food items that can be donated include canned meats, fish, soup, juice, vegetables, pasta, cereal, peanut butter and rice. Residents are asked not to include items that have expired or are in glass containers.

"They'll take almost anything," McDermed said. "But we've seen different things given. Ninety-five percent of it is stuff that will last, that has a shelf life. The Beacon won't give it all away that week. They will spread it out as long as it will last."

Reminder cards and bags were to be delivered this week by local mail carriers in the city and rural areas. Residents can leave the blue bags in or around their mailboxes to be picked up by carriers.

McDermed said the blue bags "seemed to be the kicker" last year in helping customers remember the drive and to donate canned goods, as well as upping the total amount of food items collected.

Last year, among the 11 mail routes the local post office handles, almost 400 pounds of food was collected per route. The local post office handles roughly 6,000 customers, McDermed said.

"Those are addresses we have," he said. "Some are Fulton; some go down as far as Crawford County."

Fort Scott Post Office officials are asking that residents begin putting out donations as soon as possible to ease the load on the carriers by allowing them to pick up donations immediately. Donations can also be dropped off at the local post office, 120 S. National Ave.

"Anybody else in the county can participate; they can drop items at the post office and they'll go to The Beacon," McDermed said.

McDermed said the Fort Scott Post Office has participated in the annual drive for more than 12 years.

"We're tickled to death if one year is better than the last," he said. "Everybody's struggling. Every year almost outdoes the last; that shows what the community does for each other."

Local carriers donate items to the food drive, McDermed said.

"The carriers like to see what they collect individually," he said. "They bring in stuff themselves and like to keep personal tabs and brag on their customers."

There is no competition among local carriers for prizes during the food drive, but they do enjoy participating, McDermed said.

"There is no prize; it's just pride," he said. "They're not competing for a prize ... they like doing it, it helps out a lot."