LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK)—The largest one-day food drive in the nation returns Saturday.
The National Association of Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is back, and local post offices and food banks are preparing for the big day. Richard Prevost has volunteered at the Harry Chapin Food Bank for three years and says he wouldn’t trade it for the world.
“It’s a lot of fun. Meet a lot of nice people. Of course, you serve in the community and help people, which is always nice, and it’s just a great time,” Prevost said.
Every day looks different at the food bank. On this day, Prevost was bagging sweet potatoes for schools.
Prevost says he’s looking forward to Saturday. He’ll be at the United States Postal Service office at Page Field for the 34th annual National Association of Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
“Being with the people, seeing all the trucks come up and everything like that. How much do you get today?” Prevost said.
Letter carriers across the country will collect bags of non-perishable food donations left in mailboxes. Richard LeBer, president and CEO of the Harry Chapin Food Bank, says summer is a challenging time for food banks.
“Summer is a hard time for us. It is not only the highest demand because kids are home from school, but people’s hours might have been cut. It’s also the lowest supply of food for us,” LeBer said.
Last year, nearly 65,000 pounds of food were collected in Lee County. This year, organizers hope to beat that number and get more volunteers to sign up.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of camaraderie. Feel good about, you know, bringing in a lot of food. And we’re looking forward to Sunday and Monday, having an enormous amount of food to sort through here at the food bank,” LeBer said.
Residents in apartment complexes or condos can participate by leaving a bag by their mailbox.