The Letter Carriers’ National #StampOutHunger Food Drive is Saturday, May 12, and the Harry Chapin Food Bank invites residents to support the goal of feeding those in need.
Letter carriers in Lee County are gearing up to take part in the 26th annual drive, the nation’s largest single-day food drive. This is the one day when letter carriers collect non-perishable food that has been left by mailboxes. Last year, 300,305 pounds of food were collected.
This is also the largest single-day food drive for the Harry Chapin Food Bank. Food collected in Lee County will be distributed by the food bank and several other agencies. All food collected in the drive will be distributed to participating agencies at no cost.
Locally, the Harry Chapin Food Bank and the United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades and Okeechobee Counties partner with the Letter Carriers to make the food drive happen. Nearly 400 volunteers from the community are needed to make it work.
The Harry Chapin Food Bank needs more than 300 volunteers to set up, help unload the food and do preliminary food sorting at eight different post offices in Lee County.
The United Way needs about 75 volunteer drivers to help letter carriers pick up food left by mailboxes on designated routes in Lee County. To learn more or sign up to be a volunteer driver, visit https://www.unitedwaylee.org//Stampouthunger. Direct questions to Kim Berghs, United Way volunteer center manager, at Kim@unitedwaylee.org or 239-433-7547.
To sign-up with the Harry Chapin Food Bank to help unload and sort food at postal sites, log in to the Harry Chapin Food Bank volunteer information center at https://bit.ly/2qjyUKr.
If you’re new to Harry Chapin Food Bank, sign up to volunteer at https://bit.ly/2qG3PRd and put Letter Carriers Food Drive in the Group Code Box.
In addition, there are shifts available for set up and registration at the postal sites. For questions or other information, contact Tanya Phillips, Lee County volunteer coordinator, at tphillips@harrychapinfoodbank.org or (239) 334-7007, ext. 141.
Here is the list of post offices with the times for unloading and sorting shifts.
- Cape Coral Central, 1030 SE 9th Ave, Cape Coral: 1 to 4 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m.
- Downtown Fort Myers, 1350 Monroe Street, Fort Myers: 1 to 3 p.m. and 3 to 5 p.m.
- Page Field, 2655 N Airport Rd, Fort Myers: 1 to 3:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m.
- Six Mile Cypress Carrier Annex (South Fort Myers), 14651 Six Mile Cypress, Fort Myers: 1 to 3:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m.
- North Fort Myers, 1882 N. Tamiami Trail, North Fort Myers: 1 to 3:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m.
- Tice, 4585 Palm Beach Blvd, Fort Myers: Noon to 2:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 5 p.m.
- Fort Myers Beach, 200 Carolina Ave, Fort Myers Beach: Noon to 2:30 p.m. and 2:30 to 5 p.m.
- Bonita Springs, 26150 Old 41 Rd, Bonita Springs: 1 to 3:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m.
We thank you for your support!