From staff reports
Local letter carriers will pick up donations Saturday for their annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive.
This year marks the 25th year for the annual food drive which is sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers.
Canned and boxed nonperishable food items may be placed in sturdy bags or boxes by mailboxes or on porches to be picked up when letter carriers deliver the mail on Saturday. Volunteers from the Boy Scouts and Second Harvest Food Bank also will collect the items.
Homemade items or glass-packaged items will not be accepted.
The items will be transported via mail trucks to central locations for sorting and distribution to a variety of local agencies with food pantries for the needy.
In Franklin, donations will be distributed through food pantries at the St. Patrick and St. John’s Episcopal churches, as well as through Community Services of Venango County and Sugar Valley Lodge.
In Oil City, donations will be distributed through the St. Elizabeth Center, Free Methodist Church Food Pantry, Community Services of Venango County and the Cranberry Area Food Pantry.
The effort is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, having collected more than 1 billion pounds of food since its inception in 1993.
Last year, the letter carriers and volunteers in Franklin collected 13,498 pounds of food and in Oil City collected 6,300 pounds of food to help feed the hungry.
