LETTER CARRIERS TO COLLECT FOOD ON SATURDAY ROUTES

Cape Girardeau mail carriers will be delivering mail and collecting food Saturday.

Residents are being asked to leave non-perishable food in, or by, their mailboxes Saturday for the one-day food drive.

The food campaign is sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service and the National Association of Letter Carriers Local 1015.

Karl Robinson of the Cape Girardeau Post Office is coordinator for the local food drive. Foods received will go to the Salvation Army and FISH.

This is the first year for the drive here, Robinson said.

Food drives have been conducted by letter carriers in past years, but only on individual branch campaigns.

The drive went nationwide in 1993, endorsed by the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, with more than 250 branches participating. That drive netted more than 12 million pounds of food for various charities.

A year later, in 1994, 774 branches with 177,000 carriers, collected 32 million pounds of food, and earned the President's Volunteer Action Award.

Some 900 branches have indicated they will participate in the 1995 drive, including Carbondale, Ill., and Paducah, Ky.

A receptacle will also be placed in the post office lobby, where food may be dropped off Saturday.