BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- A truck backs into CHOW carrying nearly a half-ton of food, all of it donations picked up by postal workers on their routes.
"We take a lot of pride in the fact that we've raised so much food for the community," said John Lauer, a Broome County postal worker.
This is the 17th year for the program, which collects over 30,000 pounds of food in the City of Binghamton alone. But this year, the postal drive is much more critical.
"Mainly because people are losing their jobs and people have kids to feed. That's the biggest point," said Geraldine Ford, who is the church mother for the Greater Faith and Deliverance Ministries.
The biannual postal worker's food drive is taking on greater significance this year as tough economic conditions force more families to soup kitchens and food pantries. As our Neil St. Clair explains, most of the much-needed donations end up at the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse, also known as CHOW.
Ford runs a soup kitchen there and needs the postal workers to come through. She's recently seen an estimated 25 percent increase in hungry drop-ins. The mail carriers say they're just doing what they can.
"When you know there's a need, it does away with the fact that there's extra work involved. You know you're helping somebody and that's all that matters," added Lauer.
The postal worker food drive helps benefit the community and food banks like CHOW. As the director points out, with the economic crisis America faces, the timing couldn't be better.
"We're seeing a lot more working poor coming in. So we need the drive to be successful because it'll be a tough winter," said Edward Blaine, CHOW's director.
CHOW's seen a 22 percent increase in demand since the summer. Luckily, the supply-side has kept up.
"The people in this area are very generous. And when we tell them we need food, we generally get it," Blaine said.
But Blaine knows that it's the postal drive that keeps the pantry well-stocked.
"Our shelves get really bare this time of year. So we look forward to the big food drives in the fall and the biggest one is the postal drive. Their bag doesn't get any lighter," said Blaine.
And for the mail carriers, it's a load they're happy to bear.
The postal workers will continue to collect food items through Saturday. If you would like more information on how you can donate to CHOW, visit www.broomecouncil.net/chow.asp.