USPS conducting nationwide food drive

Get ready to put some food out with the mail.

The U.S. Postal Service is conducting a nationwide drive Saturday for non-perishable foods that will be donated to local food banks.

This weekend, carriers and other volunteers will collect the food items placed next to mailboxes. They request no produce or glass be donated. For people with P.O. boxes, there will be collection bins in the post office.

This is the USPS’ 24th year doing the food drive. Letter carriers will be delivering postcards to remind people of the food drive on Saturday. At the same time, they will drop off a plastic bag, donated by Super 1 Foods, for people to put their cans in.

Coeur d’Alene Press readers made a significant contribution to the food drive last year, said Sue Hill, a rural mail carrier for the Coeur d’Alene Post Office. Hill said an article in The Press last year helped the drive gain traction, allowing the Coeur d’Alene Post Office to collect 22,000 pounds of food.

“It is such a good feeling to be able to gather all that food from your community for the food bank,” Hill said.

Foods collected in Coeur d’Alene will be donated to the food bank in Coeur d’Alene and those collected in Hayden will be donated to a food bank in Hayden, etc.