SALEM — Before postal carrier Steve Godin left Veronica Avenue yesterday, he slid open the back door of his mail truck to show off the growing pile of donations — canned soup, black beans, bags of potatoes.
"It gives us all a good feeling," he said. "I've been on this route for 12 years. You really get to know people. And you know that this is really going to help people you know... I wish every trunk we had was filled to the roof."
Godin was among Salem's 29 postal carriers who spent their Saturday helping local food pantries by collecting donated food along their postal route. It's part of the 16th annual national food drive backed by the National Association of Letter Carriers. Postal carriers from across the country participate in the event, handing over the donations to food pantries in the community where it was collected.
Postal customers along Godin's route left bags of nonperishable foods in plastic grocery bags near their mailboxes or front doors.
Workers at local food pantries say the postal carrier drive could not come at a better time.
Increasing food and fuel prices coupled with a souring economy are forcing more people to depend on local food banks.
"We're seeing a number of people who are in need who have never been before," Cathy Sloane, outreach center director for the Rockingham Community Action office in Salem. "More and more working families who can't meet their needs and are being forced to make hard decisions are coming in."
Sloane said their food pantry is serving at least twice as many families in recent months. The pantry was serving between 20 and 30 families a month. Now it's between 40 and 50 families.
Food pantries are also seeing fewer donations because more people can't spare food donations as they have in the past, Sloane said.
And some of that food is arriving at local pantries already expired.
"We urge people not to just clean out their pantries of all their old stuff," he said. Such food is unusable and has to be thrown out, said David Costello, a deacon at St. Joseph Church.
Costello said pantry workers have to remain vigilant about weeding out donations already past their expiration date.
Dependance on the mail carrier drive has grown for St. Joseph's because of the greater demand from families in need, Costello said.
"In the last three years we've seen an increase. It's gone from seeing maybe five or six families to say like 25. It's five-fold, at least," he said.
The food drive by postal workers is among several St. Joseph's depends on throughout the year, according to Costello. Other food drives by the school district and local Boy and Girl Scout chapters all play crucial roles in replenishing their food supply.
Pantry workers say they hope food and cash donations will continue to come in after the postal carrier drive.
"Anything protein based is something we're always in need of," Sloane said. Canned corn or cranberry sauce are something kitchens see all too often, she said.
"Ready-made foods that can make a complete meal such as Hamburger Helper or cereal for breakfast is a tremendous help," she said. Getting fresh dairy products and fresh meat is also a struggle, Sloane said.
Godin, also a licensed minister at Church of the Nazarene, said he knows first hand that people in need are reluctant to ask for help.
"I know as a minister, people just don't want to ask," he said. Godin made his first delivery of food to Rockingham Christian Church in Salem. Other stops in the day included St. Joseph's Church, Pleasant Street Methodist Church, Triumphant Cross Lutheran Church and the Rockingham Community Action Outreach office in Salem.
