Letter carriers collecting items for food pantry on Saturday May 10
By Mark Raeber
Progress Staff Writer
Local letter carriers will be on a mission to stamp out hunger when they ask O’Fallon residents to donate non-perishable food items during their annual food drive Saturday.
The O’Fallon postal workers will be joining their counterparts nationwide on May 10 for the 16th annual National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Food Drive, the largest one day food collection in the country.
The food collected locally will be donated to the O’Fallon Food Pantry, where Phyllis Allen, chairman of the pantry board, said there is a need.
“We’re not out of food but the need is always greater and greater,” she said. “More people are coming to the food pantry and food prices are rising.”
Allen noted, “We have seen a marked increase in clients this year due to increased utility and gas prices that are leading to increases in the price of everything else.”
Among the food items the pantry needs, she listed chili, chili beans, peanut butter, beef stew, ravioli, juice, hamburger helper, noodles and soup.
The letter carriers’ annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive has collected more than three quarters of a billion pounds of food for community food banks and pantries nationwide since it began in 1993.
O’Fallon Postmaster Dan Flanigan praised his carriers for the tradition of community service they have established.
“The O’Fallon Post Office is proud to support our nation’s letter carriers,” he said. “We also appreciate the generosity of our customers who enable our employees to collect millions of pounds of food to replenish community food banks and feed those in need.”
The annual letter carriers’ food drive is the O’Fallon Food Pantry’s second largest supplier, Allen said.
“The Boy Scout drive in November is our biggest drive,” she noted. “O’Fallon Township High School also usually has a couple of really big drives that help out, and then we have several drives and cash donations from churches. Plus, Faith Lutheran Church in O’Fallon sponsors an annual golf tournament that brings in good donations. "
“Also, this year we’re on Scott Air Force Base’s federal campaign and we are getting funds from them,” she said.
This year, the pantry also benefited from a drive carried out by employees in the regional offices of Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company in O’Fallon and St. Louis. On May 2, the company donated more than 1,000 items to the pantry. Because of the large influx of food expected from the letter carriers, Allen said the food pantry will need some extra volunteer help between 2:30 and 5 p.m. this Saturday.
If you would like to help sort and shelve the collected items, come to the O’Fallon Food Pantry, 801 E State Street, around 2:30 p.m. on May 10.
