Mail carriers to collect donations for Maui Food Bank

KAHULUI — Hawaii mail carriers began distributing blue plastic donation bags this week to make it a little easier for residents to donate to the annual Stamp Out Hunger drive to support the state’s food banks.

“Last year, there was a drop in collections, so hopefully this year, we will have a good donation with the bags donated by several companies on Oahu,” said Jan Ishizu, the Kahului Post Office carrier who is coordinating the food drive on Maui.

“We’re making it easier for people to make a donation, just put it in the bag and hang it on the box.”

The food drive will be held Saturday, with mail carriers picking up donations of canned or other nonperishable food products left by residents at home mailboxes or at the post offices. All food items will be delivered to the Maui Food Bank.

“We want to stress, all the food donated in Maui County stays in Maui County,” Ishizu said. “It will help the Maui community. We hope that with the bags, people will contribute a little, even if it’s just one or two cans.”

According to the Postal Service office on Oahu, Hawaii mail carriers collected more than 311,000 pounds of food in last year’s Stamp Out Hunger drive, with the post office district at Pearl City hauling in 31,000 pounds.

“That was just one post office,” Ishizu said. “We’re aiming for 30,000 pounds for all of Maui this year.”

The annual drive was initiated 16 years ago by the National Association of Letter Carriers as a way to demonstrate the mail carriers’ commitment to their communities and to show they do more than deliver the mail.

It is timed to help stock food banks with the supplies they need to prepare for the spike in demand that occurs each summer break when children who are eligible for free or reduced-cost meals in school are out of school.

Food products that can be left for mail pickup include canned meats, pastas, soups, beans, fruits and vegetables as well as packaged dry beans, rice and cereal. The food banks are urging donations of healthier products such as canned tuna rather than Spam or Vienna sausages.

Ishizu said the blue donation bags were provided by four primary sponsors, Summerlin and HMA health insurance companies, K. Yamada Distributors and the Hawaii State AFL-CIO and Honolulu Letter Carriers Branch 860.

“Every house is going to get one. If everyone can give a little, it will go a long way,” she said.