ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996                 TAG: 9605080063
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-4  EDITION: METRO 

POST OFFICES JOIN TOGETHER IN FOOD DRIVE

Southwest Virginia members of the National Association of Letter Carriers will conduct their third annual food drive Saturday.

Postal customers are asked to leave nonperishable food - canned or boxed - at their mailboxes. The food will be collected during regular mail deliveries.

Items needed include canned meats, fruits and vegetables; dry cereal; dry milk; and pasta.

The drive will benefit the Roanoke-based Southwest Virginia Second Harvest FoodBank, Alleghany Highlands Foodbank in Covington, Virginia Appalachian Foodbank in Abingdon and two food distribution organizations in Galax and Bland.

More than 85 post offices in Southwest Virginia will be participating.

Last year's food drive collected more than 50,000 pounds of food in the Roanoke area and more than 75 tons in Southwest Virginia for the needy, said Mike Hepler, special events manager at Second Harvest.

"This is our major food drive of the year," said Mike Hepler, special events manager at Second Harvest. "We really depend on it to help us through the late spring and early summer."

John Deatherage, president of the letter carrier association's Roanoke branch - which covers Roanoke, Roanoke County, Vinton, Buena Vista, Covington and Clifton Forge - said food will be picked up after 9 a.m. Saturday. Follow-up collections will be made in those areas Monday and May 18, he said.

For information, call Hepler or Pamela Irvine, director of Second Harvest, at 342-3011.

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