Nearly 26,000 pounds of food collected during drive

Area mail carriers collected more than 26,000 pounds of food during Saturday's 20th annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive.

CMI staff photo: Benna Sayyed

Portales High and Portales Junior High School students check expiration dates on food donations Monday at the Portales Community Services Center. Students said they volunteered to give back to the community — and it also looks good on a college resume.

Approximately 5,000 pounds of food were collected Saturday from residences in and around Portales, according to David Wagner, supervisor of customer services at USPS in Portales, with the majority being canned goods. He said it was about three times the amount the food drive produces every year.

Mail carriers from Clovis, Grady, Texico, Farwell and Fort Sumner donated 21,363 pounds of food to the Food Bank of Eastern New Mexico, which was double last year's amount, according to a food bank press release.

Wagner believes food collection bags displaying AARP, USPS and other food drive sponsors that were distributed with residents' mail last week resulted in more donations.

"We used to give out postcards (instead of food collection bags)," said Wagner, who has worked for USPS in Portales and participated in the food drive for more than 26 years.

"I think a lot of people would see them and trash them or forget them or whatever. You don't get a sack in your mail everyday. So when you get something like that, you're going to look at it and see what it is."

After donations were unloaded from postal trucks at the center, a team of eight to 10 volunteers helped Portales Community Services Center employees sort food items by expiration date. The oldest food items will be distributed to the public first. Outdated food items will not be distributed. The team of volunteers was made up of Portales High and Portales Junior High students, local churches members and other Portales residents.

Wagner said USPS holds the food drive every year to benefit communities around the nation.

"The economy is very troubling for a lot of people right now," Wagner said. "To see how much people give back shows that they understand that these are hard times for a lot of people, but that doesn't mean we can't give. I think we're (Portales) a very giving community."