Date: Fri 23-Apr-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: JAN

Quick Words:

USPS-postal-food-drive

Full Text:

Postal Workers' Food Drive Will Again Benefit Local Families

(with photo)

BY JAN HOWARD

Residents can help fight hunger on a local level by participating in a one-day

collection of non-perishable food on Saturday, May 8.

The drive is sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers to

replenish the local food pantries.

Newtown letter carriers are asking residents to place non-perishable food

items in plastic bags by their mailbox on the collection day. The bags of food

will be collected by local volunteers or by letter carriers while making their

normal mail delivery.

Robert Fragione, who spearheads the drive for the local letter carriers, said,

"It helps local people. It's only for people in Newtown and Sandy Hook."

The seventh annual food collection is part of an effort by letter carriers in

towns and cities across the country. This year's drive follows a successful

drive in 1998 that resulted in 62.5 million pounds of donations nationally.

The national, one-day drive began in October 1991 in ten selected cities.

Since 1993, Bill Keane, author of the popular cartoon "Family Circus," has

designed a special cartoon for use in promoting the drive. The cartoon is used

in flyers and posters and public service announcements about the drive.

All food collected here benefits Newtown residents and is distributed through

FAITH Pantry in Sandy Hook and the Social Services Department's food pantry,

which is sponsored by the Salvation Army.

Mr Fragione said posters are being placed in grocery stores, and collection

bins are available beginning this week in the Commerce Road, Botsford, and

Hawleyville Post Offices and at Edmond Town Hall.

Residents and businesses wishing to donate gift certificates in lieu of

donations of food can obtain them at Grand Union in Newtown, he said.

Mr Fragione said the amount of food collected is getting larger every year.

Over seven tons of food were collected in Newtown last year.

Mr Fragione said donations have been received from local businesses, which

have also donated pizza, doughnuts and coffee for the volunteers working that

day.

Local residents, members of churches, food pantry volunteers, and high school

students help with the local effort, he said.

"We can always use more volunteers," Mr Fragione said.

To volunteer, call Mr Fragione at 426-4271, Ann Piccini of the Social Services

Department at 270-4330, or Nancy Taylor of FAITH Pantry at 426-8507.

Volunteers will begin working about 9:30 am on May 8. About 10 am, after maps

of routes are passed out, they will leave the post office to collect the food

so the carriers don't have to take it all in their trucks, Mr Fragione said.

Volunteers also work at the Commerce Road Post Office to sort and organize the

canned goods. The food is then put in a truck donated by the town and taken to

the town garage for storage.

Around noon on May 8, Mr Fragione will pick up food donations at Botsford and

Hawleyville before the post offices close for the day.

The food collected is divided between the FAITH Pantry and the Social Services

Department, which distribute the food as needed.

Ann Piccini of the Social Services Department said the Salvation

Army-sponsored pantry received over three tons of food from the collection

last year.

"It carries us to about October," she said, which is when donations for the

holidays begin to be received.

"It was incredible the amount of food we got the first time the collection was

made. It's been that way ever since," Ms Piccini said.

She suggested that residents may also donate personal items in the collection,

such as diapers and baby formula.

Mr Fragione said, "It's a major help for everyone. It's helping people here in

their home town. The response keeps getting better and better. It's great to

help other people who are less fortunate, people who are out of work or sick."

Mr Fragione said the volunteer effort is "great to see. I've watched this town

just come together. It's nice to see it's getting better each year."

As chairman of the effort, Mr Fragione said he organizes routes for the

volunteers and works with local businesses for donations of canned goods and

other non-perishable products.

"I try to help out as much as I can. I give credit to the people who run the

pantries and the volunteers. They're really the people who have been doing it

for a long time," he said.

"You get a good feeling after doing it," Mr Fragione said. "On this one day,

everyone has one goal, just to help people."