The National Association of Letter Carriers annual food drive is Saturday, May 12 and the local chapter in Clarksdale is participating once again.
“Every year, we put our cards all over the United States to wherever the postal carrier is,” local NALC president Wanda Matthews said. “It’s always the weekend before Mother’s Day, the second Saturday in May. What we do is either put out bags and cards and ask our residents leave any non-perishable items by their mailbox. The mail person can pick it up or they can drop it off at the post office.”
Matthews said everything goes to the food banks in Clarksdale, which are the St. James Temple Church of Christ on Martin Luther King Boulevard or the Clarksdale Care Station on Yazoo Avenue.
Last year, everything went to the Care Station, so the plan was for all food items to go to the St James Temple Church of Christ. However, Matthews said it appeared there would be an overflow of items this year, so the Care Station will receive some food.
Matthews did not have an exact number for how many donations she expected. She did say the most the local NALC has collected in one year is 2,500 pounds worth of food.
“We really don’t know until it comes in and we collect it, but the last time we did the bags, we had a numerous amount of food,” she said.
Matthews said the NALC got the word out by reaching out to local schools, churches and posting flyers in businesses. She added the type of food donations the NALC is looking for include canned goods, cereal, Hamburger Helper, ramen noodles and anything packaged.
She thanked the community for its help through the years.
“That is the blessing in it,” Matthews said. “We want to come together as a community and do something together. This benefits the community.”
