This story has been corrected and updated.
The United States Postal Service is gearing up to help people who have been hit hard by the poor economy, and in particular rising food prices.
The annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is slated for Saturday and the Crawfordsville area post offices will again participate.
All donations of food and money collected locally will go to the FISH Food Pantry. The pantry has experienced an ever increasing number of people in need of food, said FISH director Ellen Simpson.
“Before this year we would help around 200 to 250 families each month,” Simpson said. “Now we are being asked to help 350 to 400 families ... That is a big increase.”
Residents wishing to donate during the letter carrier drive on Saturday are encouraged to leave canned goods and other non-perishable food items by their mailboxes. The donations will be collected, taken to the Crawfordsville Post Office and then donated to the local pantry.
Acceptable non-perishable food includes: canned soups, canned vegetables, canned meat and fish, pasta, rice and cereal. Customers are encouraged to leave their donations near their mailbox in a sturdy bag or box before the regular mail route for Saturday.
The food drive has collected roughly 1.82 billion pounds of food since its inception in 1983. It is the nation’s largest single-day food drive.
Small town post offices also will collect food from customers who are not served by letter carriers.
According to Post Office Food Service Coordinator Jennifer Farrer, COVID stopped the food drives in 2020 and 2021. The drive returned in 2021, but donations were down from what they were before COVID. Farrer hopes donations will return or exceed the before COVID amounts.
“We are hoping people will help us because it is such a good cause and people are needing help,” Farrer said. “People need the food so badly.”
Simpson said FISH also will accept monetary donations. Donations can be dropped off at the pantry or mailed to FISH Food Pantry, P.O. Box 261, Crawfordsville, IN 47933.
Traditionally, donations of food decrease in the spring and summer months for a number of reasons, Simpson said.
“People are generally busier with vacationing and other activities,” Farrer said. “We are hoping for a lot of food donations during this drive to help us get through the slow donation time. We believe the number of people needing food is only going to increase.”
Local gardeners also are encouraged to donate food to the pantry during the summer.
Simpson said people who are having big events, like graduations and weddings, can contact the pantry to donate any unused, left over canned goods.
The pantry is located at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church, 1306 E. Main St. Regular hours of operation are 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and 9-11 a.m. Wednesday.
For more information, visit www.montcares.org/fish-food-pantry or call 765-362-6121. To learn more about Stamp Out Hunger, visit www.nalc.org.
