Letter carriers have a big goal this Saturday – to collect 6,000 pounds of non-perishable foods from Blaine, Custer and Birch Bay for the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
This annual event occurs nationally and is the largest one-day food drive of the year. Letter carriers will collect food as they drop off mail at their normal time on May 11 in support of the Blaine Food Bank.
To participate, simply leave non-perishable food donations outside by the mailbox. Volunteers will assist by driving donations back to the food bank.
Each morning, volunteers at the Blaine Food Bank pack dozens of boxes with dry goods, produce, meats and dairy. All three food bank trucks embark in different directions, collecting goods from grocery providers around Whatcom County. It’s a constant endeavor to feed the community.
“We keep hoping that we open the doors and no one will be here,” said Sally Church, acting director of the Blaine Food Bank. “But the numbers keep increasing.”
Church said visits have gone up by at least 30 percent in the last two years. About two million pounds of food come in and go out of the food bank’s doors yearly. That comes out to roughly 6,000 pounds a day, Church calculated.
Spring is often difficult for the food bank.
“[The drive] is very essential. We depend on it to get us through,” Church said.
A separate food drive around Thanksgiving has to hold the food bank over until summer when fresh produce comes in from local farms.
“This week we’ll serve over 400 families,” Church said. “It’s a difficult time. The shelves are empty.”
For anyone unavailable when their letter carrier comes around, the food bank is staffed 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. New volunteers are always accepted, and Church specified they are currently looking for weekend drivers.
For the food drive, postmaster Val Pikalov said they are still looking for volunteer drivers, “the more the merrier.”
Interested parties can reach out to the food bank to be placed where there is need.
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