Mail carriers will help bolster food pantries throughout the nation by collecting nonperishable goods from postal customers during the Stamp Out Hunger National Food
Drive on May 9. The annual event is the largest one-day food drive in the country, said retired mail carrier Sandy Gaunce. The Simi Valley resident is coordinating efforts for the local branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers, which includes Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Agoura Hills. “It’s a good feeling when you see all the food coming in. This year the need is even greater because there are so many people out of work,” Gaunce said. Most collected items are donated to community food banks, pantries and shelters in residents’ own backyards. “The goal is to keep the food in the city where it’s donated,” Gaunce said. Since the food drive takes place in the spring, it replenishes provisions in time for summer, when children are home from school.
Gaunce delivered mail in Simi Valley for 25 years before retiring April 1. The mother of six said she began volunteering for the USPS food drive 13 years ago because she benefited from a good deed in the 1960s while raising her family with a disabled husband.