Canada Post and the Estevan Salvation Army will be teaming up for the Stamp Out Hunger food drive on June 22.
Employees of Canada Post will head out into the community that day and pick up food from the front of local residences. They will then take the donations to the Salvation Army, where the food will be sorted, weighed and placed on the food bank’s shelves.
People are asked to attach a letter that has been sent to local residents with their non-perishable food items and storable garden produce so that the donation is visible from the public.
Canada Post employees will also be picking up non-perishable food items that day.
Pick-up will start at 9 a.m. on June 22.
Canned fruit, stovetop stuffing, cereal, rice, peanut butter, crackers, condiments, canned meats/tuna, coffee/tea and canned pasta are the items the Salvation Army needs the most at this time.
Customers who receive mail through a post office box can drop their donation off at Canada Post’s Estevan location during regular business hours before June 22.
“The food bank is in desperate need of help this year,” states the letter for the food drive. “Please give what you can.”
Major Heather Harbin with the Salvation Army said they are looking forward to the food drive.
“We’re getting down in some things, so that will be a real boost for us,” said Harbin, who estimates the shelves are now below 50 per cent of their capacity.
The food bank has remained busy so far in 2019, and the demand has been comparable to the past few years, but she didn’t have any numbers for how many families they have helped out in the first 5 1/2 months of this year.
The Stamp Out Hunger food drive has traditionally been held in the fall. But it was moved to June last year in an effort to replenish the food banks shelves prior to the summer months.
