Postal workers across Iowa will be carrying a lot more than the mail Saturday, with your help. Roger Humphries, spokesman for the post office in Omaha/Council Bluffs, says letter carriers are partnering with local food banks and pantries for the annual " Help Stamp Out Hunger " campaign.
"The food bank is asking for non-perishable foods," Humphries says. "You can place those in paper sacks or plastic bags and have them sitting by your mailbox."
Tom Vaske, a letter carrier in Webster City, says this is the world’s largest single-day food drive. Vaske says they’ll pick up all sorts of items. He says the non-perishable category ranges from canned goods and boxed cereal to toothpaste.
This is the 16th year for the event and Vaske says the need is particularly great this year due to the nation’s economic troubles that have left so many people jobless or in foul financial condition.
"Food pantries are in need, there’s a lot of people in need," he says. All of the food items collected by letter carriers will be brought to post offices, then distributed to food pantries in their communities. The effort netted 50,000 pounds of food in central Iowa last year, 73-million pounds nationwide.