With Arizona food banks in need, letter carriers make donating easy

PHOENIX — Arizona’s food banks are hoping you’ll donate to a national food drive Saturday, and it won’t be hard to do.

The National Association of Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger campaign is collecting non-perishable goods at the nation’s mailboxes.

“It’s the easiest food drive you’ve ever heard of. It happens at the end of your driveway,” said Jerry Brown, spokesman for St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix.

“Any bag or box will do. Go into your pantry, pick out five or six items. The canned items that we need most (are) … fruits and vegetables.”

Brown said recent events, including the statewide teacher walkout that closed schools for six days, have strained resources for food banks.

“With the schools closing, we were distributing tens of thousands of meals,” he said. “This past weekend, we were up in Happy Jack (with) the folks who were affected by the Tinder Fire. We were distributing emergency food boxes and water.”

He said it’s normally a busy time for food banks without those extra demands.

“It’s right before the summer — that’s when we distribute more food than any other time of the year,” he said. “The kids are out of school; they’re not getting the free breakfast and free lunch.”

The NALC will not accept glass containers, baby food or dairy. There’s no limit to how many bags or boxes can be donated.

Last year, St. Mary’s got 400,000 pounds of food from the drive.

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