Mail Carriers Help Stamp Out Hunger

Postal carriers dropped off the usual array of letters, bills and magazines Saturday, but they also picked up food--lots of it.

Postal workers and an army of volunteers, ranging from members of local churches to Cub Scout troops, took part in the U.S. Postal Service’s seventh annual food drive Saturday.

A preliminary count has Orange County postal employees picking up well more than the 600,000 pounds of food collected in last year’s drive, said Terri Bouffiou, a spokeswoman for the Postal Service.

The Postal Service’s food drive has become the largest single-day food drive in the country, she said.

This year, more than 100 million reminder fliers were mailed nationwide asking residents to leave canned goods, cereal and other food for mail carriers to pick up, she said.

Most of the goods collected is standard fare, but “every once in a while I’ll see a bottle of champagne,” Bouffiou said.

Among the volunteers Saturday was state Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Garden Grove), who accompanied a mail carrier in Santa Ana throughout the day, helping him deliver mail and collect food.

In all, more than 6,000 postal employees in Orange County took part in the collection and sorting of the food, Bouffiou said.

This year’s goods will go to the Second Harvest Food Bank in Orange and the Orange County Food Bank in Garden Grove for distribution to various agencies and groups.