The rain was off and on during the National Association of Letter Carriers’ “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive on Saturday, May 12, and while Wilton, Darien and Norwalk residents did donate food, and letter carriers worked hard to collect it, and hundreds of volunteers turned out to help sort the food donations, the food drive to benefit Person-to-Person still fell short.
“Unfortunately, we did not receive as much donated food as we have in previous years. In fact, we received 10,000 pounds less, from what is the largest food drive P2P has each year which stocks our Food Pantries with three months of food for families,” said Cece Maher, executive director of Person-to-Person.
Maher says that 10,000-pound shortfall will have a significant impact on P2P’s ability to provide groceries to families and children over the summer months–a time of year when demand is higher because parents are preparing meals for their children who usually receive free or reduced-price meals at school during the other months of the year.
Officials speculate that people might have worried about putting a donation bag outside in Saturday’s rain; they encourage anyone who still has a bag prepared from Saturday to drop it off at either of Person-to-Person’s locations: 76 South Main St. in Norwalk or 1864 Post Rd. in Darien.
They hope anyone who didn’t have a bag of food already purchased to consider helping P2P stock the food pantries. In Wilton, residents can go to Stop & Shop to fill up a bag and leave it in the bins provided. (Stop & Shop in Norwalk and Darien will also have food donation bins, as will Palmer’s Market in Darien.)
Residents are also asked to consider hosting a food drive at their offices, houses of worship or schools, or to make a donation online.
Person-to-Person representatives did want to express how grateful they are to all the volunteers from Wilton as well as Darien, New Canaan, Norwalk, Stamford, Weston and Westport. Among them were the Wilton High School Class of 2021; the Darien High School Freshman Baseball Team; the alumni of Boston College, Bucknell and Yale; students from Norwalk High School and Lauralton Hall; the Pepperidge Farm employee service team; and all the community volunteers who helped. P2P extends thanks to members of Darien’s Ivanhoe Masonic Lodge #107 for donating and preparing the hamburgers, hot dogs and other refreshments to keep the volunteers going, and gives a big shout out to the letter carriers who, over the day, got in and out of their trucks to pick up the donated food–many of them in plastic bags–left at mailboxes by generous donors.