For non-profit Branford Food Pantry (BFP), it's been two years too long awaiting the return of Branford Letter Carriers' annual "Stamp Out Hunger" mailbox food collection drive, which returns Saturday, May 14 for the first time since 2019. For BFP, the collection, which can drive in over 6,000 pounds of food in one day, is coming at a critical time when prices are up and clients numbers are climbing.

"We're really counting on the food that comes in from this drive," said said BFP vice president Jaye Andrews.

The town wide postal carrier food collection picks up and delivers donated non-perishable items left in bags at mailboxes on the day of the drive. In the five years prior to the pandemic, the collection drive averaged nearly 6,700 pounds of donated food, every year, said Andrews.

"It just makes a huge, huge difference," she said. "If people can leave a bag that they've hung at their mailbox or wherever their postal carrier picks up, it's a huge help; and we really are counting on it. Our shelves are getting emptier than we've seen them in quite a while."

Due to COVID, the annual Stamp Out Hunger effort, which is a nationwide program, was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. Now, factors including inflation, rising food prices and supply issues, together with a growing number of families seeking free groceries from BFP, are combining to create a "perfect storm," of areas of need, said Andrews.

BFP's number of visits in March 2022 rose 8 percent over February 2022 and visits in April 2022 rose 10 percent over March 2022, said Andrews.

"In April alone, we had 17 new clients sign up. That's 17 new families who showed up in April, needing assistance," said Andrews

And, while client visits are not quite high as the first months of the pandemic in 2020 (when BFP saw a spike of nearly 630 visits per month), current numbers are trending a lot higher than this time last year.

"In March of 2021, we had 468 visits. In March of 2022, we had 527," said Andrews. "We went from 414 in April of 2021 to 519 visits this April."

Andrews also noted Branford residents seeking BFP assistance includes many working families.

"It's not so much unemployment. There are jobs out there. The problem is a lot of these jobs don't provide benefits or they're part-time," said Andrews. "And I think everybody knows that prices have gone up. People are coming in because gas is more expensive, food is more expensive; everything is more expensive. And if you're trying to feed a family, that's a problem."

A client told Andrews another current problem which has impacted the client, and likely others, is that pandemic-based supplemental food assistance funding, aka "food stamps" ended in April, 2022.

"So, she's back to her pre-pandemic levels, or close to it; of food stamps. And [due to rising costs] that's not a lot," said Andrews.

How to Help

All food collected locally at Branford mailboxes on May 14 will go directly to BFP to help provide supplemental groceries to Branford families in need. The community can help by bagging up donations of non-perishable food items and setting them by the mailbox ahead of regular collection time on May 14.

While all types of non-perishable food is welcome, staples such as peanut butter, jelly, tuna and pasta are needed now (visit www.branfordfoodpantry.org for a list of more donation suggestions). Due to rising costs, BFP has also been having more difficulty keeping up an inventory of some other needed items, such as canned tomatoes; donations of which would be especially appreciated on May 14, said Andrews.

Andrews said BFP, led by president Wendy Cowles, is grateful to all of the Branford postal workers participating in this program, which has carriers collecting, loading and delivering donations to BFP on a single, busy Saturday.

"They don't get compensated for any extra time they spend doing this," said Andrews. "Imagine what it takes to pick up 6,000 pounds of food!"

On May 14, carriers will be offloading collected food donations from their postal vehicles at the BFP location in Branford's Patricia C. Andriole Volunteer Services Center, 30 Harrison Avenue.

"Sometimes, the postal workers have so much in their trucks, they have to go back and finish their route, where they'll pick up more and come back again," said Andrews.

BFP volunteers will be ready and waiting to help get the carriers back on the road, said Andrews.

"When the individual postal carriers drive in, we'll unload them as fast as humanly possible, so they can get back to work," said Andrews.

She also thanks the community in advance for what BFP hopes will be a very successful return of Branford's annual "Stamp Out Hunger" food collection drive.

"We rely on donations and the kindness of our community, which is really spectacular," said Andrews.

The Branford Food Pantry serves the Town of Branford by providing weekly groceries to families in need, and full turkey dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Qualified families can register for assistance at the Branford Counseling  and Community Center. For more information about the Branford Food Pantry and its efforts, visit www.branfordfoodpantry.org.