Residents can help 'Stamp Out Hunger

Local residents can help needy families in the community this weekend through the annual National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

On Saturday, Fort Scott Post Office mail carriers will join others from across the U.S. to collect donations that will benefit local food banks and pantries. During their regular mail deliveries, local city and rural mail carriers will collect bagged non-perishable food items such as canned meats and fish, canned soup, juice, pasta, vegetables, cereal and rice. All items will later be delivered to The Beacon, a local community assistance agency and food pantry.

Local residents can help out in the effort by placing food donations near mailboxes before letter carriers arrive on Saturday. Specially marked blue bags have been delivered to residential mailboxes this week. Residents can fill the bags with food items.

Fort Scott Post Office Postmaster Robert Vacca said the local post office has participated in the food drive since the early 1990s.

"We'll pick up anywhere anyone leaves it out," he said. "We ask that they leave the bag somewhere close to the mailbox so carriers know."

Vacca added that he wanted to remind customers not to worry if they see that the postal worker has come by their house but their food donations have not been picked up. Carriers often finish their mail route and come back later to pick up food items.

"If the customer sees food still there, don't worry, they will be back to get it," he said.

The USPS asks that residents do not donate food items that have expired or items in glass containers, and that only non-perishable items be given.

"As long as it's in a can, bottle or box or something," Vacca said, "pretty much anything is accepted."

After all food items are collected, they are taken back to the local post office, sorted and weighed, and later delivered to The Beacon.

Last year, local postal employees delivered about 2,700 pounds of food -- an increase from the previous year -- to The Beacon for distribution to numerous low-income families in Bourbon County.

"The carriers get surprised every year on what people are donating," Fort Scott Post Office Supervisor of Delivery Services Todd McDermed said. "Especially with the economic times getting tougher, it's nice to see that kind of offering from folks in Fort Scott."

Vacca said it is not mandatory for local carriers to participate in the food drive each year, but all local carriers support the food drive and give of their time.

"It's an elective among carriers; it's their decision," he said. "These carriers realize there is such a need."

Vacca said he appreciates assistance from the Fort Scott High School PRIDE group that brings students, trucks and trailers each year to load all the donated food and transport it to The Beacon.

The food drive comes at an especially important time as The Beacon and other food pantries head into the summer months, a statement from the agency said.

"Many more families rely on local pantries during the summer, children are out of school, electric bills are higher," The Beacon Director Bob Eckles said in the statement.

Locally, The Beacon serves an average of 200 families each month. Donations collected locally will directly benefit clients served by the agency.

Each post office nationwide must report the total weight of the donated food that is received during the food drive. Advance donations that are brought into the office, 120 S. National Ave., will also be accepted. Postal carriers plan to continue informing people about the event through Friday.

"We already have some (food)," McDermed said. "We have a lot of folks each year that bring their donations in with them."

Vacca said residents can bring items by the local office during business hours or they can even drop items off after-hours. Items will also be accepted after Saturday.

The event is the largest one-day food drive that takes place for the Kansas Food Bank and its affiliates.

Millions of pounds of food are delivered each year to needy families during the annual food drive.