Post office food drive delivers needed support

David L. Dye, The Herald, Sharon, Pa.
·4 min read
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May 15—SHARON — The letter carriers of the U.S. Postal Service collected more than mail last Saturday — they collected several thousand pounds of food for those struggling with food insecurity.

The help is sorely needed, because a range of factors including inflation is increasing demand for food assistance, said Mercer County Food Bank Development Director Alexis Spence-Locke.

This year's Stamp Out Hunger Food drive was Saturday, when local residents were asked to leave food items with their mailboxes. Letter carriers then collected the food as part of the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

The drive is a nationwide effort by the National Association of Letter Carriers, which locally collected food for the Mercer County Food Bank through the post offices in Hermitage, Mercer and Sharon.

The Sharon post office serves as a hub for other communities including Sharpsville and Farrell, Spence-Locke said.

Spence-Locke said the food bank left trucks over the weekend at the three post offices and picked them up Tuesday after letter carriers filled them. As of Wednesday, the drive had collected 6,733 pounds of food, including:

— 3,337 pounds from the Hermitage post office.

— 2,699 pounds from the Sharon post office.

— 677 pounds from the Mercer post office.

Spence-Locke said food bank officials appreciated the support of the community and the three post offices for donating and collecting the food, which was an increase of 1,952 pounds over last year's Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

"To receive this much food at once is huge for us," Spence-Locke said.

This food donation comes at a time when the Mercer County Food Bank is seeing an increase in the number of people struggling with food insecurity.

Spence-Locke said Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap, which is based on information collected over the past couple years, shows there are now more than 15,000 people in need of food assistance in Mercer County.

During the last update around 2022, it was believed there were about 13,000 people in need in the county.

In April, the food bank helped serve about 11,692 people, which Spence-Locke said was an increase of about 2.6 percent from March, and about 25 percent higher than this same time last year.

"It's caused by a lot of things," Spence-Locke said regarding the increased food insecurity.

"Inflation is the biggest thing, because the cost of groceries and the cost of living continues to go up."

While the need for food assistance is increasing, more agencies are joining the Mercer County Food Bank's network to help meet that need.

Spence-Locke said the food bank's network recently increased from more than 30 member agencies to about 40, including newly-founded agencies and preexisting agencies that are new to the network.

Some of the network's new member agencies include the Mercer County Housing Authority, the Hope Center in Jamestown, Church of the Good Shepherd in West Middlesex, the McQuiston Center in Sandy Lake, and Vincent New Beginnings Church in Jackson Center.

A new program called the Pawsitive Food Pantry, which provides food and other supplies for needy students in grades 7 through 12, was unveiled in April at the Sharon City School District.

The pantry was made possible through a collaboration between the food bank and the school district.

In addition, food bank officials recently helped start a new food pantry at the Farrell Family Center, which caters to children from birth through the age of five years old, Spence-Locke said.

Spence-Locke said many of these agencies serve "food deserts," or areas that have no local grocery store.

"The Mercer County Food Bank is truly working to bridge the gap to these areas with no food, because of a lot of times, people may not have access to quality food or they're not able to afford quality food," she said.

Anyone looking to support the Mercer County Food Bank or in need of food assistance can visit the food bank's website at mercercountyfoodbank.org.

Any 501c3-registered nonprofit organizations interested in joining the food bank's network can call 724-981-0353.

Like David L. Dye on Facebook or email him at ddye@sharonherald.com.