MASON CITY – On Saturday, May 9, 2015, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) in Mason City and Clear Lake and Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank volunteers will collect food donations in order to provide assistance to the thousands of North Iowans who are struggling with hunger. Celebrating its 23rd anniversary this year, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, having collected more than one billion pounds of food since its inception as a national food drive in 1993.
Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank volunteers will be driving two of their commercial vans and picking up food donations during the day to assist local letter carriers. “We want to let people know that they they may see individuals other than their letter carrier picking up food donations” commented local food bank volunteer Ozzie Ohl.
Last year local letter carriers in Mason City and Clear lake collected 16,227 pounds of food. This Saturday The nation’s 180,000 letter carriers and local Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank volunteers will collect food donations left at the mailboxes of generous Americans in Mason City and Clear Lake and deliver them to Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank .
Wonder what foods are great to donate to the food drive? Here are a few of the most needed non-perishable food items requested by the food bank:
• Cereal
• Pasta
• Rice
• Canned fruits and vegetables
• Canned meals such as soups, chili, pasta
• 100% juice
• Peanut butter
• Pasta sauce or spaghetti sauce
• Macaroni & cheese
• Canned protein – tuna, chicken, turkey
• Beans – canned or dry
Food bank spokesperson Ozzie Ohl added” We are very appreciative of the generosity that North Iowans have shown through the years. We only ask that people not include glass products with their donations. In years past we have had quite a bit of broken glass.
