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Stamp Out Hunger Collection Drive

Stamp Out Hunger Collection Drive - Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 10:04PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill & Jeff Chirico
Saturday, May 10, 2008 @ 10:04pm EST
PITTSTON, LUZERNE COUNTY - People all over northeastern and central Pennsylvania mailed it in Saturday to give back to their communities. For the 16th straight year, the U. S. Postal Service held its annual Stamp Out Hunger Day.

Concerns over the economy had organizers worried they'd be short on donations. That was not the case.

Postal carrier Roy Schantz is used to dropping off letters and cards. On Saturday, the 20-year veteran was picking up bag after bag of food.

"I've only been on this route for two months, but the people are fantastic," Schantz said.

The back of almost every postal carrier's truck was full Saturday afternoon. The sluggish economy didn't stop most families from giving.

"I don't think it has anything to do with the economy. Basically, I just feel that people like to give. That's the bottom line," Schantz said.

After all of the food was collected, it was delivered to food banks, pantries and shelters all across the area, like the Meals on Wheels in Pittston.

"At first, I was a little afraid we were going to fall short because for people, it's hard for them to give up, but they really came through. It's wonderful," director Louise Smith said.

Volunteers spent the afternoon sorting soups and seperating cereals. For many places, this is their largest single-day food drive.

"When they said this was 30-percent of the yearly food bank offering, this is unreal, 30-percent. This is a lot more than I expected. The bags just keep flowing in," volunteer John Emmett said.

While all of the food that was collected is still being sorted and weighed, organizers say over the last 16 years, they've collected more than 836 million pounds of food.

 


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