Residents donate 1.5 tons of food

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Seward County residents donated more than 3,200 pounds of food to the 30th annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on May 14.

Post offices across the country participate in the food drive, which is always held on the second Saturday of May. It is considered the biggest one-day food drive in America, Postmaster Kay Hansen of the Seward Post Office said.

Hansen said it is important for the drive to be held at this time of year because food pantries are no longer receiving donations from the drives that run during the holiday season, and kids are no longer in school where they can receive free and reduced lunches.

“[Blue Valley Community Action is] very pleased about getting the food, especially right now,” she said. “Food prices are so high that more people are probably going to have to rely on food pantries.”

A few days before the drive, mail carriers put a yellow grocery sack in each mailbox along with a postcard with instructions  for the drive. People then fill the sack with nonperishable food and set it out for the carriers to collect on the day of the drive.

“I always tell [the carriers] it should be one of their proudest days of being a mail carrier because they are helping out a lot of people they don’t even know,” Hansen said.

From there, the food is taken to Blue Valley Community Action, where staff members weigh it, make sure it is not expired, separate it based on food category and box it up to go to their food pantry.

“It’s a big process, but it’s very worth it,” Blue Valley Community Action Coordinator Deb Aegerter said.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Seward County had not held a drive for the past two years. According to Aegerter, the amount of food collected this year was approximately triple that of the last drive in 2019. Aegerter said she was amazed by everyone’s generosity.

“I’ve never seen this big of a load before,” she said. “We’re very happy, very pleased that we’re able to get all that extra food to help people out, especially in these days.”