Food drive successful

Early figures show city and rural letter carriers collected more than 4,000 pounds of food Saturday during the annual National Association of Letter Carriers "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive.

Local mail carriers and residents participated in the event, the nation's largest one-day food drive. Carriers collected non-perishable food items that residents left near their mailboxes.

All the collected goods will be delivered to The Beacon, a local community assistance agency and food pantry, for distribution to needy families in Bourbon County.

Last year, local postal employees collected about 2,700 pounds of food that were delivered to The Beacon. Fort Scott Post Office Postmaster Robert Vacca said he estimates that about 4,700 pounds of food were brought in this year.

"We've had some food trickle in today," he said.

Vacca said he is not sure what to credit the increase to, although it could have been the specially marked blue bags that were delivered to residential mailboxes prior to the food drive. He said the bags, which could be used to place donations, may have helped residents remember the drive.

"That's the only significant change we made," he said. "All indicators are that it (drive) was very successful."

Vacca said items will continue to be accepted in the coming days. Residents may drop donations off at the local post office, 120 S. National Ave., or The Beacon, 525 E. Sixth St.