The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) ran their 25th annual Letter Carrier’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Saturday, May 13. As the world’s largest food drive, letter carriers collected non-perishable food donations while delivering mail along their normal postal routes on Saturday.
Local pantries couldn’t be more grateful for this appropriately timed food drive. While pantry shelves are usually overflowing in the winter months, spring is typically the time in which they are the most bare. And, with school meal programs suspended during the summer, hundreds of local children will be seeking alternate sources of nutrition in the coming months.
James Mann, Food Drive Coordinator for the Town of Christiansburg NALC Food Drive commented that overall, they were “very pleased” with the results of this year’s drive. “We collected nearly 18,000lbs of food, and are very happy with those results. The good people of this amazing community came through for us again this year!” Mann stated. “It’s always heartening for me to participate in the NALC food drive, because the need is real in our community. As an individual you may think that your small donation won’t make a difference, but when we are all able to come together as a community, the impact is really huge!”
All food donated benefits local food banks in the New River Valley, namely the Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program, the Montgomery County Christmas Store, the United Way of Montgomery, Radford, and Floyd, and other local church-based food programs. The NALC Food Drive was grateful to volunteers from RSVP, Kollmorgen, and area churches for sorting all food collected. To all those who participated, thank you!
For more information about how you can help stock pantry shelves this summer, contact United Way of Montgomery, Radford, and Floyd’s office at (540) 381-2066 or info@unitedwaynrv.org.
— Submitted by Rachel pearson