Mail Carriers to Take on an Extra Burden

By now, many of you have probably begun to look at your mail carrier with a bit more compassion.

That job of sorting through thousands of letters, getting them into your mailbox neatly bundled and at the same time each day is obviously no easy feat.

There are huge pressures. Management problems back at the office. Time constraints.

And if a congressional investigation last year that came up with the same findings didn’t convince you of it, then perhaps the unrelated incidents two weeks ago--involving former mail carriers in Orange County and Michigan who went on shooting rampages--did.

Maybe, with all the focus on post office problems, you’ve even had pangs of guilt:

Was it really necessary to place the letters you wanted to send in your own mailbox-with the little red flag pushed upward-a signal that you wanted your mail carrier to take them to the post office for you? Or couldn’t you just have walked to the corner and dropped them in the slot yourself?

And sure, you meant to leave a Christmas envelope with “To our letter carrier” in the mailbox last year. But did you?

Cognizant of all this, probably the last thing you want to do now is put any undue burden or stress on your mail carrier.

To expect, for example, that in addition to picking up and delivering your mail, he or she also would lug heavy bags of unneeded items from your kitchen back to the post office.

But please. Do not think this way.

Your mail carrier actually wants to be overburdened.

It’s just for one day.

And it’s for a very good cause.

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This Saturday, mail carriers around the county--as well in numerous cities across the country--will be picking up and delivering canned food to restock diminishing food bank supplies.

Locally, all of the food collected from Simi Valley to Ojai will benefit Food Share, which serves 252 nonprofit agencies, including Meals On Wheels, The Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, the Coalition Against Household Violence and 43 food pantries throughout the county.

“I can’t believe they are doing it. It’s just amazing to me they are taking this on themselves--and on a Saturday, too,” said Dee Volz, resource development officer with Food Share. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

Susan McVicker, a mail carrier and also the recording secretary for Tri-Valley Branch 2902 of the National Assn. of Letter Carriers, has her own reasons for the strictly voluntary effort. But she says her reasons also are shared by many of her colleagues.

“I carry mail on a walk-out route every other week, and I’ll be out there with extra bags, picking up or dropping off food,” she said. “I want to collect as much as I can.

“This is going to involve every post office in Ventura County,” she added. “It’s a community thing for us, and there’s a lot of excitement about it. There are a lot of people out there who need this.”

No one knows that better than Jewel Pedi, Food Share’s executive director. Each month, the food bank provides meals for more nearly 93,000 county residents, which translates to about one in seven local citizens.

Of those who receive meals, Pedi said, 55% are children.

“The numbers are growing all the time,” she said. “Right now, though, we are about 2 million pounds (of food) down from where we were last year. A lot of things have contributed to it--the recession, the drought having a domino effect . . . “ She paused for a moment.

“But the important thing is that the need is there.”

In summer, when many children are left home while their parents work, that need could become an emergency, Volz added.

“Ventura County is considered a high-income county, with the average about $45,000. But you know that is inaccurate for a lot of people,” Volz said. “We appear prosperous, but we have real problems.

“The average people who come to the food pantries have jobs, but they just don’t make enough to feed their families and pay the rent. Fifty-one percent of their salary, on average, goes to rent.

“If they bought food, they’d have to sacrifice that roof over their children’s heads.”

Those figures clearly had an impact on postal carriers, McVicker said. Although the food drive is strictly voluntary--and every carrier had the option of declining to participate--to her knowledge there was not a single mail carrier who asked not to be involved.

“Personally, it makes me feel good to do something positive for the community and I think a lot of others feel the same way,” she said. “It’s one day, but it will make a big difference.”

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So this Saturday, when you walk outside to pick up your newspaper, don’t forget to take out as much canned food as you can spare and place it next to your mailbox.

Don’t worry if it is very heavy and will require great effort to lift.

Your letter carrier will thank you.