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Post Office food drive set for Saturday
Place non-perishable food items beside mailbox; carriers deliver to food bank
Postal Food drive logo
    Saturday, May 9, city and rural mail carriers will be doing more than dropping off mail. Hopefully, beside each mail box, carriers will find an assortment of non-perishable food items to pick up for the Annual NALC (National Alliance of Letter Carriers) Food Drive.
    Always held the day before Mother’s Day, the food drive helps support local food banks across the nation, said Curtis M. Gay, food drive coordinator for the Statesboro Post Office.
    “The NALC Letter Carrier Food Drive is the largest one-day food drive in the nation,” he said.  “It is held by the National Association of Letter Carriers, with cooperation from the National Rural Letter Carrier Association and the United States Postal Service.”
    There is a constant demand for food at local food banks, the Statesboro Food Bank included. “With the economic hardships we are facing today, the local food banks are having a hard time keeping food on the shelves,” he said. “This food drive is really important to the Statesboro Food Bank as they try to keep up with the needs of the area.”
    All anyone has to do is place a bag of nonperishable food in a bag in the mailbox or on the ground beside it, he said.
    “As your mail carrier makes the deliveries, the food will be picked up and delivered to the local food bank. If everyone in the Statesboro area would give just two cans of food, we would make more than double our biggest year of collections,” he said.
    The annual food drive helps tremendously in stocking the food bank, Gay said. “ If everyone will join the team with their local mail carriers, we will go a long way in satisfying the need.”
    Even a small donation will make a difference, he said.
    There will be plenty of volunteers helping sort, box and deliver the food to  the food bank he said. “For the 12th year,  local motorcycle riders are volunteering their time to  help with this worthy cause. Members of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, Southern Thunder Cruisers, and the Christian Motorcyclists Association will be hard at work giving back to their community.”
    Gay encouraged city and county residents alike to give canned fruits, vegetables and meats; dry pasta, ride and potato flakes and other nonperishable foods. “ If we all work together, we can make this the best food drive ever,” he said. “This could be the most important delivery of the year.”

    
    
    
   
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