Postal workers around the country will be collecting food and donations Saturday as part of the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
Customers county-wide looking to donate are encouraged to leave canned goods and other nonperishable food items by their mailboxes Saturday. The donations will then be taken to the Crawfordsville Post Office where it will be donated to the F.I.S.H. Food Pantry.
Food Service Coordinator Jennifer Farrer said 2022 will be the 30th food drive for the NALC. The COVID-19 pandemic thwarted efforts for the last two years, making this year’s drive all the more vital, she said.
“This is one of the ways we can give back to the community, and we appreciate all the donations we receive,” Farrer said. “We know our local food pantry could really benefit from this drive.”
F.I.S.H. Food Pantry Director Ellen Simpson agreed, adding that the postal service and the pantry also accept monetary donations in lieu of food items.
However, she said items like canned vegetables, cereals and spaghetti sauces top the list this year in Montgomery County. She said that the government’s pandemic relief efforts stemmed the need for a community pantry for some time, but she hopes people will see 2022 as an even more crucial time for needy families.
“Just because covid is over doesn’t mean we don’t need the food anymore. We need the food more than ever now,” Simpson said. “For a while our clients decreased because of all the supplemental things that came out, but now that’s canceled and we’re starting to see our clients come back.”
Simpson has been director of the pantry for two years and the 2022 NALC food drive is a first for her. However, she has been working families throughout the pandemic and now sees them struggling once again.
“The cost of groceries is rising and unfortunately everybody is losing a lot of their food stamps,” she said. “If they don’t want to contribute food, we do take financial donations.”
Accepted nonperishable food include 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.
Monetary donations for the F.I.S.H. Food pantry can be mailed to P.O. Box 261, Crawfordsville, IN 47933 or dropped off at the pantry at 212 E. Wabash Ave. at the Knights of Columbus building on the campus of St. Bernard’s Catholic Church.
For more information about F.I.S.H., visit www.montcares.org/fish-food-pantry or call 765-362-6121. To learn more about Stamp Out Hunger, visit www.nalc.org.
