Raid Your Pantry For Annual Food Drive

They’re taking their campaign to end hunger to the mailbox.

Saturday marks the annual national Letter Carriers’ Food Drive, during which Pierce County postal carriers will partner with the Emergency Food Network and local food banks to collect hundreds of thousands of pounds of nonperishable food.

With need in 2011 the highest it has ever been, the 67 food banks, meal sites and shelters under the EFN umbrella already have had 300,000 visits just in the first quarter of the year.

The countywide collection goal this year is 400,000 pounds of food—but it is not attainable without help from local residents, said EFN Executive Director Helen McGovern.

“We need everyone to help spread the word in order to meet the goal,” she said, adding that it is the most successful food drive of the year because participation is so easy. “All you have to is fill a bag with food and leave it by your mailbox.”

Bank of America supplied the white plastic bags this year, which arrived in mailboxes on Wednesday to give participants two days to get their haul together.

McGovern admitted that before going to work for EFN in 2009, she didn’t put as much thought into what was putting in her bag for the food drive.

“You think, ‘I want to give a lot,’ and what does that mean? You go out and buy a lot of Top Ramen,” she said. “Well, Top Ramen is salt in a bowl—(even if) it is affordable.”

McGovern recommends filling the bags with such highly nutritious items as canned chili, soups, meats and vegetables, and baby food to help feed more than 147,000 monthly visitors to food programs across the region.

EFN Development Director Jeff Klein echoed her sentiment, adding, “We consider quality as often we can, so just putting out food that’s not nutritious but happens to be expensive isn’t necessarily the best food to get out into the community.

“Every bit helps, but we’re looking for food high in protein and high in nutritional value.”

One key item EFN is hoping to get in mass quantity is peanut butter.

“Some people overlook it, but it’s high in protein, and it’s easy for kids to prepare a peanut-butter sandwich,” Klein said. “It’s pretty much a staple.”

Every residential address in the county will receive a bag, but there is no limit to the number a household can donate. The donations simply need to be put out by mailboxes on Saturday morning.

Emergency Food Network distributes more than 14 million pounds of food to 67 organizations in Pierce County annually. That means that the food collected Saturday will last about a week and a half.

McGovern said that it is a common misconception that putting out a few cans of food will not be enough to make a difference—so people don’t do it.

“Just by putting your six to 10 cans out,” she said, “we’re expecting 400,000 pounds of food.”