Stamp out hunger food drive returning to Washington May 11

The National Association of Letter Carriers will host their 27th annual food drive on Saturday, May 11. Washington Post Office carriers Fawn Janecek and Dan Schulte encourage the public to set donations next to their mailboxes on Saturday.

The pair said the Washington Post Office has participated for the past 10 years because they feel it's important to help the community with a food drive that directly benefits it.

'It's just a great way to give back to the community and the fact that the food stays here, it's not being shipped anywhere else, it's just a great way to help your fellow neighbors and just people who went through a hard time,” Janecek said.

Food collected will go to the food pantry at the Church of God in Washington and be distributed as needed. Janecek said the food drive is hard work with having to carry all of the donations, but it's all worth it in the end.

'It really puts it in perspective when you walk into the Church of God and their pantry at the beginning or our food drive and you see how bare the shelves are and then load after load after load, you see the shelves just flooded with food. That's when you look back and you say, ‘This is what it's for,'” she said.

Last year they collected more than 3,500 pounds of food and are hoping to beat that this year. Because of the amount of food, they will have family and friends helping to pick up donations and warn people not to be concerned if someone not in uniform picks up the bag.

Those wishing to participate need only to place nonperishable food items, personal hygiene products are welcome and encouraged as well, in a paper or plastic bag outside their mailbox on Saturday, May 11, before the mail would normally arrive. Donations of cash or check also will be accepted and can be made out to the Church of God. These can be placed in an envelope labeled as being part of the food drive, placed in the mailbox and will get delivered appropriately.

Three rural carriers also will be participating in the food drive. For those who do not live within city limits but would like to participate, donations can be dropped off at the Washington Post Office anytime.

'It'll get where it needs to go,” Schulte said.

The pair said they feel it's important to support the community in any way possible because it makes the community stronger.

'It's just one of the most compassionate things you could do. Just something so small as a couple cans of food or a couple boxes of macaroni and cheese could go so far and just brighten somebody's day,” she said.

'In our job we see more firsthand than some of how great a need there really is for it, just to meet someone's basic day-to-day needs,” Schulte agreed. 'I think it's a great way for the community to pull together and take care of the people that can't meet their daily needs.”