Annual Holiday food drive to benefit local charities

SANTA BARBARA, CA—Postal Service letter carriers will deliver more than mail on Saturday, Dec.12, 2009. With the help of residential Postal customers, and the support of the Postal Service and the National Association of Letter Carriers Union, Postal employees in Goleta, Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria will also be delivering much-needed food to local charities and community food banks.

“This has grown into an annual tradition for the letter carriers of Santa Barbara and the surrounding communities,” said Santa Barbara Postmaster Jennifer Vo. “It’s our way of giving back to the community, especially in these times of great need.”

The demand on local food banks continues to be extremely heavy, with many struggling to keep their shelves stocked. “There’s nothing worse than being hungry during the holidays, so we appreciate our customers giving all that they can,” Vo said.

Customers are invited to leave donations of canned goods or other unopened, non-perishable food items in bags near their mailboxes on Saturday, Dec. 12. High-nutrition foods, such as canned fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, as well as peanut butter, cereal, soup, rice and beans are needed.

Letter carriers will collect the food items as they deliver the mail. The Santa Barbara County Food Bank, Catholic Charities of Santa Barbara and Pacific Pride Foundation will pick up the food at Post Offices at the end of the day and distribute it to people who need it this holiday season.

The food collected by the letter carriers will stay in the communities in which it was donated. Please join us in delivering holiday cheer to those in need.