The Letter Carriers’ National #StampOutHunger Food Drive is Saturday, May 11, just over a week away! The Harry Chapin Food Bank and United Way Lee need more volunteers to help letter carriers collect food, and more volunteers to unload and sort food once it’s collected.
Letter carriers in Lee County are gearing up to take part in the 27th 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, 273,649 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.
The United Way still needs about 20 volunteer drivers to help letter carriers pick up food left by mailboxes on designated routes in Lee County. Particular areas of need are North Fort Myers, Six-Mile Cypress and Page Field post offices. To learn more or sign up to be a volunteer driver, visit www.unitedwaylee.org/volunteer and click on Lee County Opportunities.
Direct questions to Kim Berghs, United Way volunteer center manager, at Kim@unitedwaylee.org or 239-433-7547.
The Harry Chapin Food Bank still needs about 70 volunteers to set up, help unload the food and do preliminary food sorting at six different post offices in Lee County. Areas where volunteers are particularly needed are the Downtown Fort Myers Post Office, and many afternoon and early evening shifts are available at other post offices listed below.
To sign-up, 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.
You can also email volunteering@harrychapinfoodbank.org. For questions or other information, contact Lori Harrington, food bank volunteer champion, at lharrington@harrychapinfoodbank.org or (239) 334-7007, ext. 141.
Here is the list of post offices that will be manned by Harry Chapin Food Bank volunteer sorters:
- Cape Coral Central, 1030 SE 9th Ave, Cape Coral
- Downtown Fort Myers, 1350 Monroe Street, Fort Myers
- Page Field, 2655 N Airport Rd, Fort Myers
- Six Mile Cypress Carrier Annex (South Fort Myers), 14651 Six Mile Cypress, Fort Myers
- Fort Myers Beach, 200 Carolina Ave, Fort Myers Beach
- Bonita Springs, 26150 Old 41 Rd, Bonita Springs
We thank you for your support!
About the Harry Chapin Food Bank
The Harry Chapin Food Bank, an affiliate of Feeding America, is the leading hunger-relief organization in Southwest Florida. The food bank solicits, collects and stores food for distribution to families and others in need through a network of more than 150 nonprofit agencies in Collier, Charlotte, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties, providing food to about 28,000 people a week.
For every dollar donated, the food bank can provide $8 in food value. In fiscal year 2017-18, The Harry Chapin Food Bank distributed 24 million pounds of food and other grocery items, including 6.4 million pounds of fresh produce. The food, valued at $41.5 million, is the equivalent of 20 million meals for people in need.
The Harry Chapin Food Bank is also a United Way partner agency. For more information or to make a donation, call (239) 334-7007 or visit harrychapinfoodbank.org.
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