GRAND FORKS – Grand City U.S. Postal Service mail carriers will be collecting food donations to support five local food pantries on Saturday, May 11th.
Residents are being asked to leave bags of non-perishable food next to their mailboxes. A postal worker will pick up the package using the normal route. Don't donate items in glass containers, said Ralph Honda of Grand Forks, who is coordinating local efforts.
The donated food will be distributed to five local food pantries, one in East Grand Forks and four in Grand Forks.
This nationwide effort is part of the National Letter Carriers Association's End Hunger Drive, held on the second Saturday of May each year.
Those wishing to donate can also drop off groceries at the Grand Forks Post Office and East Grand Forks Post Office this Saturday by 1 p.m. The clerk at the counter there “put it down for us,” Honda said.
Donations will also be accepted on the south side of the Grand Forks Post Office from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, and postal volunteers will load the bags into food pantry vehicles.
Honda said donations collected from East Grand Forks residents will be donated to the city's food pantry.
Donations from Grand Forks residents will go to the Salvation Army, Hope Church, Red River Valley Community Action and St. Joseph Social Care food pantries, he said.
In recent years, “donations have really declined,” Honda said.
Since the food drive began in 1993, it has grown into the nation's largest one-day food drive, helping to fill the shelves of food banks in cities and towns across the country. The food drive started as a pilot program and was launched the following year at about 300 post office branches across the country, Honda said. He retired from the Grand Forks Post Office about five years ago after a 39-year career as a mail carrier.
“The following year, our chapter, Chapter 519, joined the effort,” Honda said.
“I’m retired, but I’m still coordinating (the food drive) more than 30 years later,” he said.
Honda said she sometimes encounters people who need food donations but are reluctant to visit food banks. They say they fear their neighbors will see them there and feel embarrassed to ask for such assistance.
“I tell them, there's nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. “Maybe someday you'll see your neighbors visiting the food bank again.”
In the past, Honda said, local mail carriers have been asked how many pounds of food they have a goal to collect each year. I'm happy with anything. ”
Pamela Knudson is a features and arts/entertainment writer for the Grand Forks Herald.
She has worked for the Herald since 2011 and has covered a wide range of topics, including the latest performances in the region and health topics.
Pamela can be reached at pknudson@gfherald.com or (701) 780-1107.