'Stamp Out Hunger' – Mail carriers collecting food items Saturday
By SARAH FAY CAMPBELL
sarah@newnan.com
Cowetans can help "stamp out hunger" by filling their mail boxes with non-perishable food on Saturday.
Saturday is the annual National Letter Carriers Association Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
Those bags — or any other bags — can be filled with non-perishable foods and put out Saturday for your letter carrier to pick up. Cowetans who didn't receive the special bags can still participate with donations of food.
"They can leave them at their mailboxes, in their mailboxes, anywhere near their mailboxes and we'll get them," said Kim Beahan, coordinator for the food drive at the Newnan Main Post Office.
There's also a collection bin at the main Newnan post office on Postal Parkway off Millard Farmer Industrial Boulevard/ Highway 34 Bypass, Beahan said.
All the food collected in the Newnan drive stays in Coweta County, Beahan said. Beneficiaries this year include Angel's House, the Community Welcome House, the Coweta Community Food Pantry, Newnan First Baptist food pantry, and a local Masonic Lodge.
Last year, the Newnan Post Office collected approximately 7,000 pounds of food, Beahan said.
Stamp Out Hunger is a nationwide event, now in its 20th year. During that time, a total of more than 1 billion pounds of food has been collected.
It is the largest one-day food drive in the country, Beahan said. Last year, more than 70 million pounds of food were collected nationwide.
Though the drive is sponsored by the NLCA, the rural carriers also participate, as does management, Beahan said.
Post Office employees, as well as representatives from the different charities, will be busy Saturday afternoon weighing sorting and transporting the food.
"This is an opportunity for us, as letter carriers, to give back to our community," Beahan said. "This is a group effort for our whole post office," she said.
"We reach every house in the whole community. We just get so much food and there are so many people that need it now," Beahan said. "It's a good thing that we enjoy doing every year. It's just a great thing for the community."
