Mail Carriers’ Food Drive Is Saturday

U.S. postal workers urge Ventura County residents to contribute to a canned food-drive by leaving a bag of groceries near their mailboxes on Saturday.

The food will be picked up by letter carriers and donated to the Ventura County Food Share--an Oxnard-based food bank that feeds more than 127,000 people a month.

Food Share is asking that all kinds of canned food be donated, particularly meats such as tuna, corned beef hash and ham. The food bank also seeks food rich in protein and carbohydrates including rice, pasta, peanut butter and beans.

“This will help us to replenish our food stock,” said Jewel Pedi, executive director of Food Share. “Since we had the earthquake, our shelves have become a bit empty.”

The effort is part of a nationwide food drive sponsored by the National Assn. of Letter Carriers and the U. S. Postal Service.

Letter carriers will pick up the food and drop it at the nearest post office. The food collected locally will then be trucked to Food Share office in Oxnard.

This is the second year letter carriers have mounted a food drive in the county. During last year’s drive they collected more than 40 tons of food, Pedi said. “We are expecting to double the amount (of food) this year,” she said.

Postal workers are also looking for volunteers to help to pick up food and take it to Food Share’s warehouse. Volunteers are asked to call Janice Olver at 647-3944.