By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

The Clanton Post Office will participate in the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

Local postal carrier Adam Moyes is coordinating the food drive for the Clanton branch of the postal service. He said the drive will donate the collected food to local charities.

Donations can be placed in home mailboxes with the flag up. Donors can also take non-perishable food items to the Clanton Post Office starting May 13 from 9-12 a.m.

In the past, the donated food has been split between the United Way of Chilton County and Through the Grace of God Ministries. The community’s generosity has made a great difference in past years.

“Our primary ministry is feeding the hungry. The food we get from them really helps fill our shelves for the summer,” said Ralph Bingham, director of Through the Grace of God Ministries. “It is tremendous … without it we really wouldn’t make it through the summer.”

Postal workers are in the communities while delivering to their routes, so they see the state of people’s neighborhoods and can see the need for food in some cases.

“I delivered to the food bank in Montevallo, and they would ask me if I was doing the food drive that year,” Moyes said. “They showed me their food pantry and how low it was, and that inspired me to help out.”

The Clanton Post Office is located at 608 Sixth St S.

This year, the NALC is holding its 25th annual Stamp Out Hunger, through which postal carriers have collected more than 1.5 billion pounds of food thus far nationwide.

For more information about Stamp Out Hunger, visit nalc.org.