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Community Corner

Waukesha's Ready to 'Stamp Out Hunger'

Letter carrier food drive will be held Saturday to benefit Food Pantry of Waukesha County.

Do me a favor!  Go take a quick look at your pantry.  For those of you who can’t get your head around what a pantry is, it’s that place where you store that can of lima beans or beef stew or chicken noodle soup.  Why did you buy those lima beans anyway if you knew you were never going to touch them?  Did you ever think that someone who is really hungry might want to put those lima beans in a soup or stew or even eat them by themselves?  How about that can of Spam?

Think about it!  What do you have in your cupboard that someone could use to make a meal?  Maybe, it’s an unopened box of cereal.  If it is non-perishable, you can donate it to the Stamp Out Hunger food drive next Saturday.  At the Salvation Army, we refer to it as the postal food drive because postal workers as well as many willing volunteers help pick up and distribute the food to various local pantries.

Last year, the Waukesha Salvation Army collected 18,266 pounds of food. The “Stamp Out Hunger” drive is the nation’s largest one-day food drive. It’s really as simple as filling one, or two, or five paper bags with non-perishable food and then putting the bags out by your mail box.  You can also drop bags of food off at your local post office. No glass containers please!

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Tell your friends.  Tell your neighbors.

 “The food collected each year through the Stamp Out Hunger food drive is vital to the on-going operations of the Salvation Army’s programs," said Rachel Fjelman, Social Services director for the Waukesha Salvation Army. "The food collected this one day keeps food pantry shelves stocked well into the fall.”

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 Fjelman thanked the letter carriers and the community for their generosity. The Salvation Army is still looking for volunteers for this day.  Let some free food be a small incentives to you and go to www.waukeshasalvationarmy.org, click on volunteer now, and sign up.  Volunteer opportunities include drivers, runners and sorters.  The Food Pantry of Waukesha County may also be looking for volunteer help.  They can be reached at 262-542-5300.

How much can we do as Waukesha County residents in one day?  How much can we accomplish by working together to accomplish this goal in one day?  Friends, let’s make this event bigger and better than last year.  Reach deep into your cupboards and into your hearts.  I guarantee you that if we do, some Waukesha County residents will be a little less hungry than they were yesterday. 

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