Community Chat

[speedy girl]

I've been donating to this for as many years as I can remember and never had any problem. In fact the mailman always seems very friendly to me, like maybe he appreciates the donation. I like doing it as it goes right to the people locally. 

[kitty60]

Yes, this has gone on for many years.  Having worked this food drive for more years than I care to remember, please...don't just clean out your cabinets with things that are outdated.  When the food is transferred on Saturday from the post office to the facility where we, the local food pantry need to sort and stock,we  need to go through and sort the items that have come in.  We have a rule, if we don't even want to touch the can/jar, etc. toss it!  It is unbelievable what some people donate.  We then check for dates...we have seen dates over ten years out of date.  Out is goes.  For our facility we sort by the groups of food, box and then put into our inventory.  Each year there seems to be less and less donated.  We are grateful for all we get and we care about our clients and would never hand out something that would hurt them.

[ThinkingOutLoud]

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@kitty60 wrote:

Yes, this has gone on for many years.  Having worked this food drive for more years than I care to remember, please...don't just clean out your cabinets with things that are outdated.  When the food is transferred on Saturday from the post office to the facility where we, the local food pantry need to sort and stock,we  need to go through and sort the items that have come in.  We have a rule, if we don't even want to touch the can/jar, etc. toss it!  It is unbelievable what some people donate.  We then check for dates...we have seen dates over ten years out of date.  Out is goes.  For our facility we sort by the groups of food, box and then put into our inventory.  Each year there seems to be less and less donated.  We are grateful for all we get and we care about our clients and would never hand out something that would hurt them.

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This is why I will only donate soap, laundry care items, etc to the local food bank now. I've eaten expired food and have been fine. Those dates are about freshness and even then it's arbitrary.

[shoptilyadropagain]

I received my card and plastic bag yesterday with my mail.  I had already collected a few items but wanted to grab a couple more things before Saturday but not sure I'll have the chance.  

In our small town, they had volunteers driving trucks (one person driving and another to grab the bag)to go around and collect the donations.  This was normally done in the morning.  My dad used to help by driving his truck.

[ninjawife]

@ThinkingOutLoud I have volunteered at our food bank many times.  The food bank does accept food with expired dates.  Each cateogory of food items are on a master list that indicates how much passed the listed expiration date the food can be safely consumed. 

[Greeneyedlady21]

I have my food items in a bag ready to go. Bought them at the lowest priced local grocery store, they were very affordable.

This is a great thing that USPS does every year, I love to support it.

[Carolina925]

I've not gotten notice yet this year; I think they've not done it the past couple of years here (COVID related, I imagine.) If I put out something and someone else comes and takes it, I'm guessing they needed it so it doesn't bother me. I live in a town where we have a lot of food pantries; I don't have a lot of disposable income but I can say I've never been really hungry. Even when I was going through a divorce and had nothing, some food would always show up on my doorstep from somewhere. A local salon does food drives a few times a year and I'm shocked at the expired food that's donated. Shame on those who clean out their pantries with inedible products. I'll be looking forward to looking for our notice and going to the store tomorrow.

[Meowingkitty]

I guess our mailman isn't participating. Informed Delivery said a card was in todays mail but when I looked there is no card. I can't imagine leaving food out in 95 degree heat for hours.

[RedTop]

We did not receive any type of notice thru the post office, and to my knowledge there was little local advertising about this event.

I was not surprised when the mail carrier said we were the only ones on this route to donate food today.  Very sad, as we are on one of the longest mail routes in the county.  

[Zaimee]

Went out at 6 pm to see if my shopping bag was picked up. It was still there. I debated about bringing it in but glad I didn't as it was just picked up. Everything was non perishable as it is a delightful 80 degrees here now in So. Fla.