Mailbox deliveries make it to local food pantry
(Seguin) – Thanks to the community’s generosity, the U.S. Post Office recently made a special delivery to the Christian Cupboard. Thanks to the annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, postal officials were able to deliver 11,200 pounds of food to the local food pantry. The drive is held every second Saturday in May. Across cities and towns in America, letter carriers collect the non-perishable food items left at the mailbox or on front porches during their normal mail routes.
Regina Lee, the executive director of the Christian Cupboard, is grateful for this extremely large donation. Lee says this was definitely the largest Stamp Out Hunger donation ever for the non-profit organization. She says it was just incredible to see that seven large postal bins had been filled by Seguin and McQueeney residents.
“As always, Seguin has showed up and has showed out. I mean 11, 000 pounds is a lot of food. It really is and on that one day pick up which is totally incredible,” said Lee.
Lee says this latest donation couldn’t have come at a better time for the Christian Cupboard. Earlier this month, Lee had made a public plea for donations after it had seen a spike in clients. Lee says the Cupboard was seeking enough donations to at least help it get through the end of the month.
“Now, is it going to take us a month to go through it? No. That’s not the point. That’s a lot of food and that’s a lot of food to sort and put on our shelves. But it’s a good amount of food and it’s some good work. Remember, we are a volunteer organization. A couple of weeks before this, I asked the community to kind of help us out. We were running short. The food bank didn’t have anything to purchase and the response to that was tremendous. I can’t give you the exact amount of food we garnered from that but it was enough to keep us going and nice size bags for our families. We give about 75 pounds for a family of four and if there are four more than that, it’s double that,” said Lee.
Lee says she is thankful to have such a supportive community. She says everyone does what they can.
“People are conscious of us being in the community and people are conscious of the need and it’s an ongoing thing. We are open definitely four days a week and sometimes five because we are open the first and third Saturdays. Memorial Day is coming up. We will be closed that Monday so the need is tremendous. There are those who have to work. They are barely scraping by. They are paying house notes, or rent or car payments. They are living life and guess what? Life is expensive and everything in life is expensive. So, sometimes you have to decide if you are going to have gas or if you are going to have food, and lots of times people end up having to put in gas. So, people aren’t being frivolous with the food they are given, and come on, who wants to go and ask for food? But it’s a basic, basic need of our society,” said Lee.
Lee reminds individuals that when they donate food to the Christian Cupboard, they are also helping those who are homeless. She says donating food is always a good way to support those living on the streets.
“They have to be taken care of also. They are taken care of on a different scale and in a different way because I’m talking about homeless people who have no place to cook it and who have no place to store food. So, remember those cans of Vienna sausages and Spam you have, those little fruit cups, crackers, and toiletries you get from the hotels — even water, soda, and juice cans. And, don’t forget who wouldn’t like some chips once in a while or a bag of peanuts? All of it is important and all of it is used,” said Lee.
According to Feeding America, over 42 million people in the United States are food insecure, meaning they lack reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
Donations to the Christian Cupboard are accepted Mondays through Thursdays from 9 to 11:30 a.m. A collection box located on the north side of the building is also available 24/7. The food pantry is located at 516 N. Camp St.