Letter Carrier Food Drive Collects Over 25,000 Pounds Locally

NEW BEDFORD — The National Annual Letter Carriers Food Drive surpassed last year's totals by several thousand pounds.

Richard Drolet, an organizer of the event's local chapter, reports that local letter carriers collected 25,560 pounds of food from area residents who donated non-perishable food goods over the weekend. The donations were collected in Fairhaven, New Bedford, Acushnet, and Dartmouth.

In Fairhaven, letter carriers collected 4,160 pounds of food which will be donated to the Shepherd's Pantry.

In downtown New Bedford, about 3,120 pounds of food was collected for the Salvation Army and 3,080 pounds for M.O.L.I.F.E. Foods.

Approximately 9,160 pounds were collected from residents in Acushnet and the North End of New Bedford. Those donated goods were delivered to PACE.

In North and South Dartmouth, 6,040 pounds of food was collected with the donations being split between Damien's Kitchen in Wareham and Catholic Social Services.

This year's driver surpassed last year's total amount of collected food by about 5,000 pounds.

The event was partially organized and managed by the United Way of Greater New Bedford.

The food was weighed on mail trucks by using industrial truck scales at P.J. Keating in Acushnet.