Postal carriers help 'Stamp Out Hunger'

MOSES LAKE — When the mail trucks arrived, the big truck started filling up fast. Not with mail — the truck belonged to the Moses Lake Food Bank, and the mail carriers collected food donations from along their routes as part of the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

It’s a one-day event where mailbox customers are asked to leave donations of non-perishable food by the mailbox. Mail carriers pick up the food as they deliver mail and bring it back to the post office, where the truck is waiting.

Stamp out Hunger is a charitable project of the National Association of Letter Carriers, according to the union’s website. The Moses Lake Post Office has been participating for at least 20 years, said Tina Kunjara, the MLPO organizer.

All donations go to local food banks, the website said. The union and its members have been sponsoring Stamp Out Hunger for 24 years, said Bruce Baker, a retired letter carrier and president of the Moses Lake local.

The 2015 Stamp Out Hunger drive collected 9,200 pounds of food, Kinjara said. A final accounting for 2016 won’t be available until later in the week. In part that’s because while it’s supposed to be a one-day event, it really isn’t.

“We get donations all week, the following week,” Baker said. “We take the food as long as people are willing to put it out.”

As the trucks pulled in the carriers unloaded cans, boxes and bags of non-perishable food, and few items that were a little hard to identify. Andi Merrill and her daughters Madalyn and Lillian volunteered to fill the truck.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.