Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat nor gloom of night will keep the local mail carriers from collecting food on Saturday to help people in need.

The collection is part of the 16th annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive.

"The food will be going to food pantries all around the York County area," said Steve Hanna, local association president and food drive coordinator. "A lot of people are in need of a helping hand, and we just want to help."

The association is asking people to put out a bag of nonperishable food by their mailboxes before the postal carriers get there on Saturday. The carriers will take the bags to their postal branches, where local food pantry volunteers will load the food into their organizations' trucks, Hanna said.

Retired postal workers also will volunteer Saturday, helping mail carriers load and transport donated food, he said. And mail carriers will be making some sacrifices, as they will not be paid for the extra time taken to stop at each mail box and load the food.

Last year, more than
100,000 pounds of food were collected locally and distributed to more than a dozen food pantries in the county. More than 70 million pounds were collected nationwide, Hanna said.

Food pantries need extra help stocking their shelves for the summer months to help feed children who normally would get free, federally funded breakfasts and lunches at school, he said.

View from a pantry: Gene Burk, a volunteer co-coordinator

Advertisement
of St. Matthew's Food Pantry in York City, said his church's pantry also needs help in meeting the needs of working individuals and senior citizens who don't have enough money to meet increased gasoline, medical and grocery costs.

"It's a sign of the times," Burk said. "Our clientele has gotten older. We have 40 percent of our (clientele) walk to our facility. They bring baby buggies or metal grocery carts to carry the food we give them."

The pantry received 2,500 pounds of food from last year's food drive. That helped deliver 11,000 meals to about 1,000 individuals. More than 600 of them had families, Burk said.

Burk said the mail carriers' food drive comes at a time when pantries' food and financial banks are at their lowest, as the new year for receiving food from the government does not begin until July 1.

"The post office food drive is fantastic," he said. "It does fill a hole here in the budget process."

The food drive also highlights the efforts of caring people in the county, Burk said.

"If somebody needs help in York County, there's help in York County," he said. "We're a community that really cares about people out there, and it makes me feel good about living in York County."

-- Reach Eyana Adah McMillan at 505-5438 or emcmillan@yorkdispatch.com.