Postal Service delivers in fight against hunger

LYNN – Terry Daigle and Karen Haggerty deliver mail to Lynn residents almost every day, but on Saturday, they will also be on the front lines in the fight to end hunger.Along with fellow letter carriers across the country, the Lynn residents will collect non-perishable food items left next to mailboxes and on doorsteps by residents living along their mail routes. Saturday marks the collection?s 20th year with residents in Lynn, Nahant, Saugus and Swampscott donating nearly 25 tons of food in 2014.?For the most part, people are very generous. Some go out and buy a case of something to donate,” Haggerty said.Letter carriers stuff their mail trucks with donated items, including canned goods, boxed cereals, pasta and other non-perishables. Lynn Ladder and Scaffolding owner Alan Kline mobilizes his Boston Street business as the drop-off and sorting center for the donated food.?It?s incredible. You pull right in, they unload the food and have a couple slices of pizza waiting for you,” Haggerty said.Donated food goes to My Brother?s Table to offer free meals in its Willow Street dining hall and to other local food pantries.?The donated food will carry these organizations through the summer and early fall months,” said National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 7 food drive coordinator Frank Quartarone.Branch 7 representing local letter carriers and the Postal Service operate together to “stamp out hunger.”?The Postal Service is the perfect mechanism for this drive: We go to every door in the country,” said Lynn Postmaster John Muise.Daigle has delivered mail in Lynn for 29 years, including 20 years along a route following Cedar Brook Road and Den Quarry Road. He said his mail customers demonstrate their generosity during every annual collection. The donated food will increase his Saturday workload, Daigle said, but good weather makes each bag or box of food he lifts a little lighter.?It?s good to give back,” he said.Haggerty delivers mail downtown, and she said Lynn includes many residents who have experienced hunger or seen other people who need help getting enough food.?You never know when you could be in that position,” she said.