Letter Carrier Food Drive Set for SaturdayBy Jack Guerino, iBerkshires Staff
01:10AM / Thursday, May 12, 2016 | |
 Letter carriers will be picking up donations of nonperishable food on Saturday. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Letter carriers across Berkshire County this Saturday will pick up nonperishable food on their routes to donate to the Friendship Center Food Pantry, among other charities.
North Adams letter carrier and president of the Berkshire County Letter Carriers Union Branch 286 Gary Ghidotti said any resident can donate a bag or box of non-perishable food by leaving it under his or her mailbox. The letter carriers in Adams, Becket, Dalton, Great Barrington, Hinsdale, Housatonic, Lanesborough, Lee, Lenox, North Adams, Pittsfield, parts of Richmond, Sheffield and Williamstown will be collecting the donations and bringing them to their respective loading docks for sorting and packing.
"Many of our neighbors out there aren't eating as well as some of us because, unfortunately, there aren't enough quality jobs in America where people can make a living wage to feed themselves and their families," he said.
Ghidotti said the letter carriers will only collect nonperishable food that has not expired. He asked that people do not leave anything in a glass container.
Food donations in North Adams can also be dropped off at the former Sears location in the Steeple City Plaza on Rear Main Street from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The local food pantry will collect the food periodically throughout the day.
"People can drop it off right there," Ghidotti said. "It would probably make it a lot easier ... it doesn't have to get handled two or three times."
Ghidotti said the Friendship Center is looking for volunteers to help box, weigh, and store the food at Sears. There will be refreshments for those who want to help.
At the Pittsfield Post Office, volunteers from Berkshire United Way, Berkshire Community Action Council, and Taconic High School students from the Berkshire Youth United (BYU) program will distribute the food to the more than 10 food banks.
The letter carrier drive has collected more than 8,000 pounds of food in the past. Also benefiting in North Adams will be the Berkshire Food Project. Letter carriers in other towns will be donating to their local food pantries, such as St. Patrick's in Williamstown.
Ghidotti said every second Saturday in May, letter carriers across the nation have collected food for this fundraiser. He said some 70 million pounds annually has been collected over the last decade or so.
Last year, North Adams collected between 12,000 to 15,000 pounds of food.
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