COMMUNITY News:
Next Saturday, May 14 is the 24th annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, and all across America friends and neighbors will be leaving non-perishable food items at their mailboxes for pickup that day.
Our local letter carriers, with the assistance of local Boy Scout packs and troops, will be participating in this effort and delivering these items to LA Cares, the local food-bank that assists food-insecure families in Los Alamos County.
Jeanne Butler, June Gladney and the rest of the LA Cares volunteers are getting ready to accept what they hope will be mountains of food.
“People often ask us what happens to the donations in the May and November drives,” Gladney said. “LA Cares receives nearly 100 percent of what is collected in White Rock and Los Alamos, stores it, and distributes to approximately 95 Los Alamos families once a month a box of staple items plus produce, bread and personal items. The Food Depot and Smith’s Marketplace also are instrumental in providing some of these items. Low income recipients have to register monthly; and we have about 50 volunteers that help move the food from storage, pack boxes, make deliveries and assist the clients at pickup. New adult volunteers are needed and are always welcome.”
In support of LA Cares, the Los Alamos Community Foundation has teamed up with local professional photographer Minesh Bacrania to document and highlight the hard work done by LA Cares volunteers and the magnitude of their impact all year round through a photo essay.
“The mission of the LACF is to increase local philanthropy, to highlight needs in our community, and to support those many local nonprofits that make a difference in Los Alamos. Minesh approached us and offered to use his fantastic skills to help us, and we decided that a photo essay was the perfect mechanism by which the public can see the role these nonprofits play, and the impact they have. We appreciate that LA Cares was interested in collaborating in our first essay,” said David Izraelevitz, president of the Foundation.
The full photo essay is available at the Foundation website, www.losalamoscf.org/our-projects.html.
“The Board of LA Cares is excited to have been chosen as the first spotlighted organization, and we appreciate the recognition and financial support of the LACF,” Gladney said. Butler added, “Our storage areas are nearly empty. We hope to fill them to capacity once again with the help of our very generous community!”
The annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive is the nation’s largest one-day drive, providing letter carriers, other postal employees and thousands of volunteers across the nation the opportunity to meld their forces together to conduct the drive in their local communities.
LA Cares can be reached for questions or be contacted about volunteering by leaving a message at 505.661.8015. Donations can be mailed to LA Cares, PO Box 248, Los Alamos NM 87544.
Photo by Minesh Bacrania
Photo by Minesh Bacrania
Photo by Minesh Bacrania
