Postal carriers help 'Stamp Out Hunger'
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 6 months AGO
Volunteer Lillian Merril unloads donated food during the ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ food drive Saturday.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | May 16, 2016 1:00 PM
MOSES LAKE — When the mail trucks arrived, the big truck started filling up fast. Not with mail — the truck belonged to the Moses Lake Food Bank, and the mail carriers collected food donations from along their routes as part of the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
It’s a one-day event where mailbox customers are asked to leave donations of non-perishable food by the mailbox. Mail carriers pick up the food as they deliver mail and bring it back to the post office, where the truck is waiting.
Stamp out Hunger is a charitable project of the National Association of Letter Carriers, according to the union’s website. The Moses Lake Post Office has been participating for at least 20 years, said Tina Kunjara, the MLPO organizer.
All donations go to local food banks, the website said. The union and its members have been sponsoring Stamp Out Hunger for 24 years, said Bruce Baker, a retired letter carrier and president of the Moses Lake local.
The 2015 Stamp Out Hunger drive collected 9,200 pounds of food, Kinjara said. A final accounting for 2016 won’t be available until later in the week. In part that’s because while it’s supposed to be a one-day event, it really isn’t.
“We get donations all week, the following week,” Baker said. “We take the food as long as people are willing to put it out.”
As the trucks pulled in the carriers unloaded cans, boxes and bags of non-perishable food, and few items that were a little hard to identify. Andi Merrill and her daughters Madalyn and Lillian volunteered to fill the truck.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Moses Lake School District, teachers union reach tentative agreement
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Education Association announced late Friday night that the union has reached a tentative agreement with the Moses Lake School District. Classes will resume Monday, according to a press release from the MLEA.
Priest Rapids Dam oil spill still in cleanup stage
MATTAWA — People downstream of Priest Rapids Dam are being asked to look for evidence of oil on the waters of the Columbia River following a spill of mineral oil at the dam Wednesday. Department of Ecology officials are asking boaters to stay off the river between Priest Rapids and Pasco while crews work to clean up the oil, according to a PUD press release. Absorbent booms were put in the water to collect the oil downstream of the dam and are still there, said Christine Pratt, public information officer with the Grant County PUD, in the PUD press release. The booms will stay there until the Department of Ecology allows their removal.
Royal SD voters to decide on educational programs and operations levy in February
ROYAL CITY — Royal School District voters will be asked to accept or reject a two-year educational programs and operations levy request in a special election Feb. 10. If it’s approved, it would replace the district’s existing levy approved by voters in 2024. Royal Superintendent Roger Trail said the levy rate would remain unchanged.