Letter carriers in Greenwood will be especially busy Saturday as they participate in the 23rd annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
The carriers will pick up canned goods, pasta, rice and cereal placed next to residents’ mailboxes prior to delivery.
The program has a big impact in addressing hunger. Last year, carriers collected 73 million pounds of food nationally, feeding an estimated 30 million people.
Since the drive began in 1993, the total amount of food collected exceeds 1.3 billion pounds.
Tommy Ellett, director of the Community Food Pantry, said the drive provides “a huge boost.”
Stamp Out Hunger and a second canned food drive held in the fall, Youth CAN Make a Difference, help the pantry meet the needs of people in Leflore County.
Ellett said he appreciates this extra work that the letter carriers do on a volunteer basis in addition to their regular duties.
“I don’t know what we’d do without them. We wouldn’t have enough canned foods,” he said.
Currently, 50 million Americans – 1 in 6 — are unsure where their next meal is coming from.
“Yesterday, we served 156 customers in 120 minutes,” Ellett said. “We all got a good workout.”
He said he feels good about the people the pantry serves.
“So many of them I don’t think could survive without us,” he said.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
