Clark County postal employees and community volunteers collected an estimated 100,000 pounds of food during the annual letter carriers food drive Saturday.
James Fitzgerald, operations manager for the Clark County Food Bank, said that number is “down quite a bit from last year,” and organizers are unsure of why. Nearly 138,000 pounds of food was collected last year.
“We are all scratching our heads trying to find out why,” he said. “It’s still an amazing amount, and we are definitely thankful.”
It’s possible people didn’t want to leave their food in the rain, Fitzgerald said.
People can still donate throughout the week, he said. Letter carriers will pick it up, if it’s left at mailboxes, or it can be dropped off at the Clark County Food Bank, 6502 N.E. 47th Ave. in Vancouver.
The food that has already been collected will be weighed Monday afternoon, Fitzgerald said.
More than 100 volunteers helped with Saturday’s food drive, which doesn’t include the letter carriers who picked up the donations left at mailboxes on their routes. About 240 local letter carriers participate in the Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
The food drive, which is always held on the second Saturday in May, is the nation’s largest one-day food drive and the second-largest locally, behind December’s Walk & Knock.
