Local letter carriers will no longer be collecting food donations this fall. For 22 years carriers collected the donations, sometimes as much as 800,000 pounds of food a year.
"The pantries really looked forward to the fall collection because it was not something that they had to purchase and it kind of filled in the gaps in their shelves," said executive director of Interreligious Food Consortium of Central New York Michele Jordan.
Why the donations stopped
In 2008, Empire Vision ended its sponsorship of about 1.5 million postcards given out annually. Losing this means of advertising caused a major decrease in the amount of food collected, only 100,000 pounds in 2009. Because of this, carriers stopped taking donations in fall 2010, affecting the community.
"Unfortunately it was something that went on for a long period of time and they always counted on it," said Jordan. "When they didn't have it this year people were surprised and also a little concerned."
But letter carriers haven’t given up the donation effort. Their focus has shifted to the annual national food drive which takes place in the spring.
What it means for pantries
The loss of donations has also stretched the pantries. With fewer donations, they have had to buy more of their own food. They have also seen an increase in visitors in the past few months, adding to the strain.
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