The Cupertino Courier

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Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor cans

By Tiffany Carney

JoAnne Harcharik remembers her first post office food drive 14 years ago. She walked up to a house on N. Stelling Road and saw four bags of food. She felt both happy and surprised, she says, realizing people were willing to donate that much food to such a good cause.

Harcharik, 59, has participated almost every year since, always hoping she'll collect even more than the previous year. "I always like to get a lot in my Jeep," she says. "It makes you feel like you are really doing something for the community, and it just gives you a good feeling."

Harcharik once turned down an invitation to an anniversary party because she didn't want to miss the food drive.

Her food drive efforts start one week before the event, when she and other letter carriers at the Cupertino Post Office alert customers to the single-day event by delivering fliers.

On the day of the drive, in addition to delivering and picking up letters, magazines and packages, she collects food on her Cupertino route--which includes homes and businesses on N. Stelling Road, Homestead Road, Maxine Avenue and Barranca Drive. Some customers leave a few cans, but others donate two to three bags of food. "It's a lot of work, but it is worth it to me," says Harcharik, who admits to hoping for a lighter mail load on that day.

She knows many of the customers personally, having worked the same route for 18 years. She has lunch with an apartment manager on her route once a week and gets invited to neighborhood picnics and Christmas parties.

When the letter carriers finish collecting all the food, the post office celebrates their hard work by holding a barbecue with hot dogs, hamburgers and food provided by KFC.

Harcharik says the food drive is only one reason she enjoys her job. "I think if I sat behind a desk it would drive me crazy. What I like about [my job] is being outside and moving and meeting people.''

Harcharik also admits she talks to do a lot of people on her route. "I've never had a job where the time goes so fast."

Leave canned goods out for letter carrier

By Mary Gottschalk

Helping feed a hungry child is a simple thing to do on May 12.

Just go to your cupboard, pull out some canned goods, put them in a grocery bag and leave it by your mailbox before the mail arrives.

Your letter carrier will do the rest.

May 12 is the 15th annual National Association of Letter Carriers National Food Drive. It's the largest one-day food drive in the United States, and the 1,500 members of Branch 193 of the NALC are gearing up to do their part.

This year is more important than ever says Danny Laffan, president of Branch 193, which represents carriers in San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Milpitas, Morgan Hill and Gilroy.

"It's now the Tony Cortese Food Drive," he says.

Cortese, who died of a heart condition on Feb. 11, served as president of the union for 26 years. He started a local food drive 17 years ago, and Laffan says it was that drive that caught the attention of the national group.

Inspired by Cortese and the local union's efforts, the national group decided to try a pilot program in 10 cites across the United States, including San Jose.

The success here, as well as in other cities, led to the launch of the national Stamp Out Hunger Drive in 1993. Over the years the drive has collected 765.5 million pounds of food.

Locally, in 2006 the union members collected some 111,401 pounds of food that was donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

The timing of the drive is important, says Lynn Crocker, director of marketing and communications for Second Harvest.

"It helps us restock our shelves, which have been emptied since the holiday food drives," Crocker says. "We've gone through that food, and we need to meet the increased need for food during the summer months because children who normally get meals at school don't get them with school out.

"Parents are scrambling to make up for the extra meals their kids normally receive during the school year."

Crocker says at Second Harvest, "the majority of the people we serve are what we call working families. That's about 60 percent and they are working and trying to make ends meet, but this valley is so expensive with housing, utilities, groceries and medical expenses.

"Seniors account for 20 percent. They're on a very fixed income and a lot of time they're living off of Social Security, which is as little as $950 a month. When you factor in housing and medical expenses, there's little money left to buy food."

The final 20 percent served by Second Harvest are single individuals, some of whom are homeless.

Crocker says Second Harvest is hoping for high-protein, non-perishable items such as peanut butter, tuna fish, low-salt canned vegetables, fruit packed in its own juices and dry goods such as pasta, beans and rice.

When people have little to spend on groceries, Crocker says, they "end of buying food which is less expensive but higher in calories and lower in nutrition. They're getting fatty food that is filling, but they're not getting the nutrition that they need."

In In 2006, Cupertino area residents donated 8,179 pounds, down from 12,176 donated in 2005.

That drop mirrored an overall drop in donations throughout the county. The overall total was down almost 60,000 pounds.

Laffan says that anyone who leaves out food that isn't picked up can call the union office at 408.288.8138 and leave their address.

Crocker says she's not sure what the reason for the drop was.