Mailbox food drive serves critical need

By Sharon Salyer

Herald Writer

Although Saturday marks the 10th year that letter carriers in Snohomish County will conduct a one-day food drive, it may be among the most crucial.

Layoffs and the economy’s downturn are expected to create unprecedented demand at area food banks, said Virginia Sprague, who oversees the Volunteers of America warehouse that helps supply food banks throughout the county.

Local food banks expect an estimated 50,000 more requests for help this year, she said. That includes some duplicate requests, or people who have gone to a food bank more than once for help.

"We’ve had our times (in the past) when Boeing went through their layoffs, but nothing like this," Sprague said. "This time, jobs are lost and they’re not coming back.

"It’s a critical year," she said of the food drive.

The annual food drive is the largest such single-day event conducted in Snohomish County, part of an event now sponsored by letter carriers throughout the nation.

Food donations will stay in the area where they’re collected, going to food banks in Arlington, Darrington, Edmonds, Everett, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Lynnwood, Maltby, Marysville, Monroe, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, Snohomish, Stanwood, Camano and Sultan.

For example, the Lake Stevens Community Food Bank received 18,000 pounds of food from the drive last year, said Jan Tilly, who with her husband, Dale, are volunteer directors.

"It just wowed us," she said. "Unbelievable."

Summer is an especially critical time for food banks because children are out of school, where they are eligible for free- or reduced-price lunches, she explained.

For the more than 200 families who depend on help from the Lake Stevens food bank each month, it is especially difficult to get the extra food needed for their children during the summer, Tilly said.

"It’s the mail carrier’s drive that helps us through the summer," she said.

Last year, countywide donations increased about 80 percent from the previous year, topping out at 325,000 pounds. Part of the reason: Plastic bags were delivered to each residential customer, said Bill Borders, labor liaison at United Way of Snohomish County, who is helping organize the food drive.

Granite Falls, Lynnwood, Sultan and Marysville are four cities where donations increased the most last year, Borders said.

All residential patrons have received plastic bags to put food donations in again this year, he said. Several area organizations, including the Snohomish County Labor Council, the Edmonds Lions Club, the International Association of Machinists and Campbell Nelson collectively donated $5,200 to buy 245,000 bags.

Dianna Engeseth of Snohomish has been a letter carrier for 21 years. Most of that time, she has been assigned to a route in the Mukilteo area. She’s worked on the letter carriers drive since its inception.

"It’s really exciting to find out how caring people can be," she said. "It’s such a wonderful thing that everybody can do."

You can call Herald Writer Sharon Salyer at 425-339-3486 or send e-mail to salyer@heraldnet.com.

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