Countywide : Mail Carriers Helping to Stamp Out Hunger
Mail carriers across Orange County and the rest of the country will be doing more than just delivering mail today--they’ll also be picking up canned foods.
Rain or shine, the National Assn. of Letter Carriers’ annual food drive begins and ends today--and mail carriers are urging residents to place a can or two near their mailboxes.
“The overall mood is very positive,” said Clark Collier, who supervises about 70 mail carriers at the Costa Mesa post office on Adams Street. “A lot of us are looking forward to it and are very enthusiastic. It’s always nice to help the hungry out and pitch in.”
More than 3,000 mail carriers will be looking for non-perishables after they drop off the mail. They will then load the food into the back of their trucks. The goods eventually will be shipped to the Orange County Food Bank in Garden Grove or the Food Distribution Center in Orange.
Last year, more than half a million pounds of food was collected in the county and 32 million pounds was picked up across the nation, including Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.
The drive started as a pilot program in October, 1991. It has picked up speed ever since, said Michael Chubbs, a mail carrier at the Seal Beach office, whose 34 carriers collected 30,000 pounds of food last year.
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