Letter carrier food drive aims to fight hunger worsened by COVID-19 pandemic
Schifani said, "We're still seeing higher hunger rates than pre-pandemic, and people are impacted even more by higher food costs, inflation, and various things like that."
Schifani said, "We're still seeing higher hunger rates than pre-pandemic, and people are impacted even more by higher food costs, inflation, and various things like that."
Schifani said, "We're still seeing higher hunger rates than pre-pandemic, and people are impacted even more by higher food costs, inflation, and various things like that."
The coronavirus pandemic has made affordable food nearly impossible to find for some New Mexican families. Now, Roadrunner Food Bank is working with letter carriers to fight that trend.
Letter carriers picked food donations from homes across the metro all Saturday morning and brought them to the Steve Schiff Post Office. Now, the Roadrunner Food Bank is sorting through all of these donations. It's been two years since they have been able to have this event because of the pandemic.
Faith Schifani is the communications director for Roadrunner Food Bank.
Schifani said, "We're still seeing higher hunger rates than pre-pandemic, and people are impacted even more by higher food costs, inflation, and various things like that."
New Mexicans are facing a major problem — hunger. It's gotten worse through the COVID-19 pandemic, but now letter carriers and volunteers are stepping up to help.
Marie Montaño is a part of the National Association of Letter Carriers.
Montaño said, "We didn't collect food for two years because of COVID. This brought us back to get all the foods that we need for Roadrunner and for the state of New Mexico."
"We've got our awesome volunteer team behind us and staff members here to sort that food. Then it gets palletized and taken back to Roadrunner Food Bank," Schifani said.
This year is their 30th time hosting the event that gathers thousands of pounds of food for the Albuquerque Metro area. Montaño said they aim to gather around 200,000 pounds of food for this event. The event organizers and volunteers say this event is one way they're trying to make feeding families easier.
"Families may be worried about where that meal will come from for their kids, and they can now have an assurance that they'll be able to put food on the table for their kids," Schifani said.
Montaño said, "This is what it is all about. Helping our customers."
If you or someone you know is struggling with hunger and could use some of this help, you can visit rrfb.org for assistance resources.