By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Brandon Twp. — On May 10, letter carriers from the Ortonville Post office will join carriers from more than 10,000 communities across America in the largest one-day food drive in the nation.
The Stamp Out Hunger food drive will return with local carriers picking up bags of non-perishable food items near area residents’ mailboxes. Look for a postcard notification followed by yellow food bags distributed to area mailboxes in advance. Items may also be dropped off to the Ortonville Post Office 55 Pond St., during regular business hours.
There are around 6,000 households on the mail routes in Ortonville, as well as many PO boxes.
Lisa Harrison has been a mail carrier for several years in the Ortonville area and is assisting in the coordination of the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
“See a need, fill a need,” said Harrison. “The Ortonville community is definitely blessed having the Ortonville Community Emergency Fund watching out for their needs.”
The Stamp Out Hunger food drive is an initiative conducted by the National Association of Letter Carriers, and food stays in the local communities it is collected from. The food collected locally goes to Ortonville Community Emergency Fund, which feeds those in the Brandon community.
Trudy Lentini, is the OCEF President.
“We can’t thank the Ortonville Post office enough for their Stamp Out Hunger campaign,” said Lentini. “The OCEF community food pantry continues to help food insecurity in Brandon Township. We currently see 80-100 families a month and these families struggle to fill the gap from paycheck to paycheck.”
OCEF is there to bridge the gap, she said.
“Recently we are seeing one to three new families a month during these challenging times,” added Lentini. “Again, I am  so grateful for such a generous community. Please check expiration dates before you put out your food, we never want to throw away food.”