Stamping out hunger

Letter carrier food drive nets tons in donations
People Helping People of Republic was the grateful recipient of thousands of pounds of food Saturday, May 13. The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) conducted its annual national food drive and all collected food in the Republic area stayed in this area.
PHP’s pantry was very low on canned and dry goods with Christmas and ‘Soup’er Bowl donations depleted. During the summer, need increases when school lunches are mainly suspended, and the Stamp Out Hunger food drive helps to refill the coffers.
In 1993, the NALC started the national food drive because one in eight Americans are uncertain about their next meal, including millions of children.
Locally, two mail carriers, Jack Putman and Rick Brockman, arranged to add Republic to the list of participants and made arrangements for the carriers to pickup food at the mailboxes on their route. The drive has continued to grow and is now celebrated by local contributors and volunteers.
Nationally, it is supported by the U.S. Postal Service, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, the National Rural Carriers’ Association, Vericast, United Way Worldwide, the AFL-CIO, Valpak, the Kellogg Co., and CVS Health.
In the 30-year history, the drive has collected a national total of 1.82 billion pounds of food.