Letter carriers bring in 24,300 pounds of food for Killeen food bank

By Valerie L. Valdez | Herald correspondent
Val Valdez

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May 16, 2017
May 16, 2017
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Food Care Center Processes Stamp Out Hunger Donations

Volunteers at the Food Care Center in Killeen sort through thousands of donated goods on Tuesday, May 16, 2017, from the U.S. Postal Service's successful Stamp Out Hunger Campaign over the weekend.

Killeen mail carrier Tina Jones helps unload food donations at the Food Care Center in Killeen on Tuesday, May 16, 2017. Extra donations to the center came from the successful Stamp Out Hunger Campaign from the U.S. Postal Service over the weekend.

Generosity is measurable. It can be counted in dollars and also weighted, like the amount of food donated Saturday during the 25th annual Stamp Out Hunger Day.

Letter carriers nationwide collected bags of food with Killeen postal workers collecting 24,319 pounds of food from local residents’ homes. The local bags were delivered to the Killeen Food Care Center at 210 N. 16th St.

The amount both shocked and thrilled Dennis J. Duffey, operations manager of the local food bank, saying last year’s total was barely 2,000 pounds.

“The people in the Killeen and Fort Hood community really stepped up to the plate supporting this event, and we thank them all so very much,” Duffey said. “This food will feed a lot of people.”

The food center serves 120 to 220 people a day, so the annual donation accounts for about 10 percent of the center’s supply.

Tina Jones, a letter carrier in Pershing Park and Venable Village, coordinated the letter carriers from the Killeen stations at Copper Mountain, Willow Springs and on Fort Hood. The main difference this year was the postal carriers left a paper bag for each residence several days in advance, Jones said.

“The bag was like a visual incentive for people to fill with food and leave it for the carriers to pick up, so this way worked out much better,” she said.

Tuesday morning, over a dozen volunteers busily sorted the canned and boxed foods, vegetables, fruit, pasta and cereals, as a steady flow of clients came to get their allotment for the month.

Among the volunteers was Newman Bryant, 76, who removed bags from the shopping carts. Without the postal workers, the food banks across the country would have less food to give out to people in need, Bryant said.

“The letter carriers are the real heroes, and if we do away with post offices, then this wouldn’t happen anymore,” he said.