Letter carriers’ food drive kicks-off on Saturday

Your mail carrier might be picking up more than letters and packages this weekend when they stop by your home.

Saturday kicks-off the national Letter Carriers’ Food Drive, where you don’t have to go any further than your mailbox to participate.

Folks can either head down to your local food bank to donate, or just leave your non-perishable donations by your mailbox and your mail carrier will pick it up along their route.

Local Pocatello organizer and U.S. Postal Service letter carrier John Paige said all of the donations will head to the Idaho Food Bank, before some are distributed to other local food pantries as well.

“There’s a definte need here in this community, and this is the perfect time to be donating,” Paige said, noting most people forget about donating to local food banks during these summer months.

And yes, that is quite the daunting number of cans they’ll be carrying. But they’re looking forward to it.

“It’s a worthwhile project. At the end of the day, sure, we are really tired because we put in a lot of work, but you have this feeling of satisfaction knowing you’ve accomplished something wonderful,” Paige added.

He said this past year, the Pocatello-Chubbuck area drew-in 20,000 pounds of donations, and hopes to supass that by eight thousand more this year.

In past years, the largest amount of donations the Pocatello community brought-in, reached 54,000 pounds in one day.

The food drive will be happening from 8AM until 5PM on Saturday, and volunteers are welcome.

If you plan to head over the Idaho Food Bank in Pocatello, the address is: 555 S. 1st Ave.