The Cumming Post Office and United Way of Forsyth County have teamed up this week for a second year of the national “Stamp Out the Hunger” food drive.
This is the 18th annual drive for the National Association of Letter Carriers. Forsyth joined the effort a year ago after the arrival of Postmaster Anne Berger.
Residents who want to participate need only place nonperishable food items in a bag by their mailbox for the carrier to collect en route.
Friday and Saturday are the official pickup days for zip codes 30040, 30041 and 30028, Berger said, but the carriers have already picked up some brown bags filled with cans of food.
Donations can also be brought this week to the Cumming Post Office on Tribble Gap Road.
The postal carriers are “anxious and excited” about the food collection, Berger said.
“A lot of people that work here live in the community,” she said. “Everyone wants to give back to their own.”
At the post office she worked for in New York, she said carriers often had to drop off bags of food during their routes because the trucks would run out of room.
“I hope we have that problem here,” Berger said.
During the first local drive last year, residents contributed more than 2,000 cans of food for local food banks, said Leigh Crow, coordinator for the United Way of Forsyth County.
This year’s donations will benefit Unseen Ministries Food Bank and The Place of Forsyth County, both of which give food to county families in need.
The drive is timed with the end of the school year to “tide over” food banks that help get food to children in need.
“Usually, their main meal is their school lunch,” Crow said. “In the summertime when they’re not in school, they don’t have those good, nutritious meals.”
The United Way, which mailed 44,000 flyers about the drive to area homes, hopes for a bigger collection this year than last.
According to a news release from the nonprofit, local food banks have seen an increase in need.
In the first quarter of this year, The Place provided food assistance to 450 county households.
“We’re always looking for as much food as we could possibly collect for the local food pantries in the community because we know there’s such a need,” Crow said.
This is the 18th annual drive for the National Association of Letter Carriers. Forsyth joined the effort a year ago after the arrival of Postmaster Anne Berger.
Residents who want to participate need only place nonperishable food items in a bag by their mailbox for the carrier to collect en route.
Friday and Saturday are the official pickup days for zip codes 30040, 30041 and 30028, Berger said, but the carriers have already picked up some brown bags filled with cans of food.
Donations can also be brought this week to the Cumming Post Office on Tribble Gap Road.
The postal carriers are “anxious and excited” about the food collection, Berger said.
“A lot of people that work here live in the community,” she said. “Everyone wants to give back to their own.”
At the post office she worked for in New York, she said carriers often had to drop off bags of food during their routes because the trucks would run out of room.
“I hope we have that problem here,” Berger said.
During the first local drive last year, residents contributed more than 2,000 cans of food for local food banks, said Leigh Crow, coordinator for the United Way of Forsyth County.
This year’s donations will benefit Unseen Ministries Food Bank and The Place of Forsyth County, both of which give food to county families in need.
The drive is timed with the end of the school year to “tide over” food banks that help get food to children in need.
“Usually, their main meal is their school lunch,” Crow said. “In the summertime when they’re not in school, they don’t have those good, nutritious meals.”
The United Way, which mailed 44,000 flyers about the drive to area homes, hopes for a bigger collection this year than last.
According to a news release from the nonprofit, local food banks have seen an increase in need.
In the first quarter of this year, The Place provided food assistance to 450 county households.
“We’re always looking for as much food as we could possibly collect for the local food pantries in the community because we know there’s such a need,” Crow said.
