Georgia: Letter carriers address hunger

On Saturday, letter carriers across the nation will coordinate a “blitz against hunger,” collecting goods to restock local food pantries, kitchens and shelters that experience increased need as more people struggle economically.

The letter carriers’ union has held its Stamp Out Hunger food drive since 1993. But especially now, carriers see the effects of the flagging economy, said Drew Von Bergen, spokesman for the National Association of Letter Carriers.

“They’re the only occupation ... that’s on every street of every town, six days a week,” he said.

In Northwest Georgia and Southeast Tennessee, the letter carriers bring in tons of food every year, postal workers in Cleveland, Tenn., and Dalton, Ga., said.

This year — despite the economic squeeze even on middle-class families — the letter carriers are hoping again to gather thousands of pounds of food donated by residents.

Food price inflation in the past year was the highest it has been since 1990, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which predicts even steeper price increases during 2008. With gasoline closing in on $4 a gallon, families anywhere near the edge of poverty are struggling.

Still, Cleveland mail carrier Mike Williams said the food drive can be a success if residents will help. And it will be even more important.

“If every ... household gave one can, the amount of food we would get would be astronomical,” Mr. Williams said, pointing out that a can of food costs about $1.

The Caring Place in Cleveland, which receives food from the Stamp Out Hunger drive, has experienced a spike in demand, Executive Director Reba Terry said.

The ministry distributed groceries in April 2008 to 892 people, a 38 percent increase from April 2007, she said.

Some poor people only recently discovered The Caring Place services, she said, but others “are new poor.”

The Dalton, Ga., arm of the Salvation Army fields several calls a day from people seeking help from a food bank for the first time, social worker Robin Wright said.

“Their hours are being cut back. Their plants are shutting down,” she said.

Recently, 42-year-old Connie Moser ate dinner at Dalton’s Providence Ministries soup kitchen. Until a year ago, she worked for Shaw Industries, melting plastic pellets fibers used for the yarn in carpets. She began cleaning houses after she was laid off.

But that work has slowed, too. City residents are tightening their belts and forgoing housekeepers, she said.

“There’s no work,” Ms. Moser said. Not to mention, she added, “You can’t afford (gas) to go nowhere.”

Some of the small food banks where she has sought help have shut down, she said. So, even though she’d rather cook at home, she eats at Providence.

They prepare fresh food, Ms. Moser said, but added, “I’m grateful to get anything.”

On May 2, the food bank network Second Harvest released a survey showing that public-assistance food pantries across the U.S. now face critical shortages. Of the 49 food banks surveyed, 84 percent have reduced the amount of food they give to people in need.

“The participating food banks said their agencies are seeing families and faces they haven’t seen before — working people who never thought they would have trouble making ends meet,” according to a Second Harvest release.

Mr. Von Bergen, of the letter carriers’ union, acknowledged that the struggling economy creates both a greater need for food and a greater challenge to obtain it. In the economic dip that followed the Sept. 11, 2o001 terror attacks, the Stamp Out Hunger campaign had a 10 million-pound drop in food collected.

Still, Mr. Williams, the Cleveland mailman, believes most people can find something to give. He pointed out that lower-income neighborhoods usually yield more food during Stamp Out Hunger than do affluent communities.

“Maybe,” he said, “it’s because they know what it’s like to be hungry.”