On May 10, mail carriers on all postal routes in the Sebastian, Micco and Barefoot Bay areas will join thousands across the country in the 22nd annual Stamp Out Hunger program, collecting thousands of tons of canned goods for area food pantries.
Throughout the day, mail carriers will collect the canned and boxed non-perishable food from mailboxes along their routes and deliver them to the main Sebastian Post Office, where 150 volunteers will sort and pack them. The food will then be delivered to four area food pantrie, The River Fund, Abiding Presence International, The Ecumenical Food Pantry and The Lord’s Table Soup Kitchen in Fellsmere to be distributed to people in need.
Barbara Zingman, who has served on the local Stamp Out Hunger Committee for years, said the Saturday of Mother’s Day Weekend has been the traditional collection day. This is a very needy area,” she says, “especially since Food Stamps have been cut.” Zingman expressed her hope that area snowbirds, many of whom have already flown North, already took their donations to one of the pre-event drop-off centers.
Sebastian Postmaster Domenic Dalessandro says reminder cards went out last week and this week, plastic bags donated by Publix are being distributed to each residence in the collection area, which includes 27 postal routes. He explained all food items will be collected, either by the usual postal carrier or by volunteers who bring their vehicles for backup if carriers run out of room.
“Your food donations will be collected by someone,” assures Delassandro. Last year, he says, about 20 tons were collected from residents in the North County area, and an impressive 1 billion-plus tons were collected nationwide.
Event volunteer coordinator Meredith McElroy is always moved by the great community response and the many groups which provide the 150-plus volunteers. Among them are Boy Scout Troop 598; Girl Scout Troop 50868; the Sebastian Lions Club, the Sebastian River High School football team, volunteers from Charter High School; various area churches and many more.
Hale Groves and Hogan and Company have both donated sturdy boxes in which to pack the canned and boxed foodstuffs and numerous area restaurants have donated food and water to sustain the volunteers as they receive, sort, stack and box throughout the always long and hot day.
Until three years ago, sorted cans and boxes had been placed on palates. Then the sky opened up during sorting and stacking and the boxed dry goods were damaged. Fortunately the following year White Glove Moving and Storage volunteered one of its large 26-foot box trucks and a crew.
“What we do is provide our truck and men at the post office on Main Street in Sebastian,” explains. Anna Valencia, White Glove’s Stamp Out Hunger coordinator. The carriers go about their routes and bring back tons of food and the various charities, along with dozens of other volunteers show sort the food immediately and load the trucks so at the end of the day it goes directly to the food pantries in the area.
“This year, our second year of volunteering, is going to be amazing,” Valencia says. “Some of the local charities that receive the food don’t have a truck, which is where we come in; last year we were the only truck to participate as a business. They called us again because we also stop at Hale Groves on our way up to grab crates they donate. We find it very rewarding. We want Sebastian to know how much we love them, even if we are headquartered out of North Vero.”
This year, White Glove is joined by other volunteered vehicles, all working together to ensure protection from the weather, and efficient distribution to the four charities.
McElroy, who has been busy organizing the event, fervently hopes everyone will “pray for good weather.” Contemplating the numerous volunteer groups, the ever-growing needs of the food pantries, the thousands of postal carriers and post offices across the nation and the tens of thousands of tons of foods generously donated by postal patrons, she exclaims, “This is huge!”