Mail carriers collect today for food banks

May 10, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Mail carriers across the country are preparing to deliver plenty of canned goods and condiments along with the usual correspondence.

“We want to help the community. This is a great day,” Ronald P. Ruchtie said, referring to today’s 22nd annual National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

Ruchtie, of Austintown, is a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 385. He also was among the postal personnel, elected officials and others on hand for a gathering Friday at the Youngstown Community Gleaners Food Bank, 94 Pyatt St. on the South Side, to kick off the food drive.

Carriers nationwide will collect food products and related items that people place by their mailboxes, then take them to churches and food banks to be distributed in their communities, noted Ruchtie, who’s also a food-drive coordinator.

Despite some economic recovery, the program’s importance is magnified by recent increases in food and energy costs coupled with Senate Republicans’ voting last month to block raising the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 per hour, he explained.

“It’s at an all-time high,” Ruchtie said of the need to tackle hunger, adding that this is the country’s largest one-day food drive.

Other agencies contributing to the local effort are the Salvation Army, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, he continued.

The defeat in Tuesday’s primary election of numerous local school levies, as well as the permanent renewal of Mahoning County’s second half-percent sales tax, further points to the fact that many Valley residents are hurting, said Joe Lordi, Gleaners’ director.

“Any time you can offer to help the poor, it’s a blessing for us,” he said, noting that last year’s effort brought in about 14,000 pounds of food.

Lordi also encouraged people to donate items they no longer need to Gleaners.

“It’s very gratifying,” Annie Hall said of the food drive.

Hall, a 17-year Gleaners volunteer who helps to secure grants, noted that the agency conducts its own food giveaway from 9 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays.

Ruchtie also thanked Huntington Bank and Lamar Advertising Co. for promoting the event.