Mail Carriers to Collect Food for the Needy

This Saturday, more than 4,000 mail carriers throughout the San Fernando Valley will pick up donated nonperishable food items along their routes in a volunteer effort to replenish the larders at local food banks.

Residents wishing to participate should leave foods such as rice, beans, peanut butter and canned goods beside their mailboxes.

Mail carriers will collect, sort and help distribute the food after work, according to Larry Dozier, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service.

In the Valley, the Salvation Army, Meeting Each Need with Dignity (MEND) in Pacoima and the Burbank Temporary Aid Center, among dozens of other food banks, will receive the donated food, according to Terri Bouffiou, spokeswoman for the postal service.

“Many food banks go dry in the summer months for some reason,” Dozier said. “We planned this drive to help carry them through until the end of the year.”

The food drive marks the sixth year that the post office, working with the mail carriers union, the AFL-CIO and local food banks, has gathered donated food. Last year, they collected more than 22,500 tons of food, Dozier said.

This year, every post office in California will participate. That’s more than 35,000 carriers from at least 600 post offices in the state, according to Bouffiou.

Nationwide, more than 2,000 post offices will participate.

“This is going to be the nation’s largest food drive ever,” Dozier said.