For One Day, Mailboxes Double as Food Drops

Campbell’s Soup, Frosted Flakes and canned kidney beans were nestled among the letters and bills collected from residents’ mailboxes Saturday as part of the eighth annual “Stamp Out Hunger” campaign, sponsored by the National Assn. of Letter Carriers.

More than 5,000 letter carriers collected food to help the county’s hungry as part of what is called the largest one-day food drive in the country. Last year, letter carriers in Orange County collected more than 800,000 pounds of food. This year’s totals were not available as of Saturday night.

Volunteers from local churches, Cub Scout troops and nonprofit agencies staffed 14 post offices in the county Saturday, sorting the food, mostly canned, into containers that would be moved to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County.

Through local agencies, Second Harvest, a branch of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, feeds 180,000 county residents each month. The agency estimates, however, that 400,000 people go hungry in that same period.

Despite the county’s wealth and apparent prosperity, the high cost of living leaves many families with only enough money to pay for housing and utilities, said Kay Mather of Second Harvest.

Mather, who worked with about a dozen volunteers at the Warner Avenue post office in Huntington Beach, said the face of hunger in the county is not limited to those in obvious need--visibly homeless people holding signs saying “Will Work for Food.”

“It could be the person standing next to you at church, but they aren’t going to say ‘Pardon me, I haven’t eaten in two days, can you help?’ ” Mather said. “Many are embarrassed about having to ask for help.”

Dorothy Augustine of Santa Ana began volunteering at Second Harvest last year after she retired from teaching at Chapman University. The experience, helping nonprofit agencies throughout the county provide food to those in need, has given her an understanding of the depth of need in her own community.

“I’m amazed at how it can happen,” Augustine said, referring to the sudden crises--illnesses leading to steep medical bills or unemployment--that can cause families to turn to shelters or churches for free meals.

Kari Smits, 13, along with other members of Grace Lutheran Church of Huntington Beach, helped pack up the canned fruit, vegetables, tuna and cartons of pasta as letter carriers wheeled them into the center.

“I don’t know anyone personally who’s hungry, but I see it on the news and sometimes I see hungry people on the streets,” Smits said. “I feel really bad and I want to help them, but I’m just a kid and don’t know what to do.”

Summer is when food banks typically have the greatest need for donations, and Saturday’s haul will help tide over about 240 agencies until the next big push during the winter holidays.