![](https://fairhavenneighborhoodnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/NALC22_SlidingBoxes-300x200.jpg)
Volunteers slide boxes along a board to get food boxes down the stairs to the Shepherd’s Pantry in Acushnet, after the “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers on 5/14/22. Photo by Beth David.
By Beth David, Editor
Postal service customers across the entire country left food by their mailboxes for the 30th annual “Stamp out Hunger” food drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers, after a two-year hiatus due to COVID 19.
In Fairhaven, letter carriers took the food to the USPS location on Pequod Road where volunteers from the Shepherd’s Pantry waited with a U-Haul truck. By the end of the day, it was jam packed with nonperishable food items that residents in Fairhaven had left out by their mailboxes. Volunteers then unloaded the truck at the pantry in Acushnet.
Pantry director Gerry Payette said they did not weigh the truck this year, but he was confident that there was as much as 7,500 pounds of food collected.
He said he had a few more volunteers than in previous years, making it easier for everyone.
“This is just fantastic,” he said about the volunteers.
In 2019, the last time the drive was held, Fairhaven residents donated 4,160 pounds.
The Shepherd’s Pantry distributes food on Saturdays, from 9 to 11 a.m., located at the Long Plain United Methodist Church, 1215 Main Street, Acushnet, Mass., 508-763-9289.
Donations to the pantry are tax deductible and may be sent to Shepherd’s Pantry, P.O. Box 760, Fairhaven, MA 02719.
To learn more about the NALC food drive, visit https://www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive
- Shelves are stacked at the Shepherd’s Food Pantry in Acushnet with US Post Office boxes filled with food collected by letter carrier during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers on 5/14/22. Photo by Beth David.
- Pantry Administrator Lou Braga pushes a cart stacked with boxes of food at the Shepherd’s Pantry in Acushnet collected during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers on 5/14/22. Photo by Beth David.
- The volunteer crew for the Shepherd’s Pantry takes a minute from loading up nonperishables at the US Post Office annex in Fairhaven to pose for the local free sheet during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers on 5/14/22. Photo by Beth David.
- The volunteer crew at the Shepherd’s Pantry in Acushnet poses for the local free sheet after unloading all the boxes from the Stamp Out Hunger food drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers on 5/14/22. Photo by Beth David.
- Volunteer Caleb St. Pierre grabs a box of food at the Shepherd’s Pantry in Acushnet collected during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers on 5/14/22. Photo by Beth David.
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Click here to download the entire 5/19/22 issue: 05-19-22 USPS FoodDrive
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