Postal workers strive to ‘Stamp Out Hunger’

By Jeff Shultz
Staff Writer

May 08, 2008 10:10 am

— Pauls Valley residents will be getting more than just mail from their postal carriers this week as a national effort targeting hunger moves into full swing.
Described as the largest single-day food drive in the country, the 16th annual National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) event will actually come this Saturday.
Until then postal workers will be distributing plastic bags to local homes which can then be used to donate food to the cause as the letter carriers team up with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to “Stamp Out Hunger.”
“We will be collecting the food on Saturday,” said PV Postmaster Barbara Mullins.
“People can fill up those bags and leave them next to their mailboxes or on their front porch,” she said.
“We’ll be putting out those bags in mailboxes throughout the week.”
Residents are encouraged to fill these or their own bags with canned goods and non-perishable foods.
They are asked to have the donations in place by 8 a.m. Saturday as mail carriers will collect the bags on their regular mail routes.
Mullins added other volunteers will likely be helping the carriers as the donated food will be collected and transported to the local post office where all of it will stay here to help local residents in need.
The food collected from the NALC food drive in Pauls Valley will go to the Pauls Valley Samaritans, a partner agency of the Regional Food Bank that distributes food and other goods to more than 500 agencies in central and western Oklahoma.
“During these times of economic crisis due to the ever-rising cost of food and fuel prices, it becomes even more critical that we ask everyone who is able to donate as much food as possible to help those who are less fortunate,” said Rodney Bivens, executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.
“Individuals and families who were already struggling to make ends meet are turning to food pantries more and more every day because their resources simply won’t make it through the end of the month anymore.”
The goal of the NALC food drives is to raise canned food items to help the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and its partner agencies feed more hungry Oklahomans, raise awareness of the issue of hunger in Oklahoma and promote a spirit of community togetherness to combat a serious social problem.
In Pauls Valley expectations are for this year’s food drive to have the high level of donations as seen in the past.
“It’s been excellent in the past,” Mullins said about the local response to previous food drives here.
For more information on the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and the NALC food drive, visit www.regionalfoodbank.org or call (405) 972-1111.