The Sunnyvale Sun

News

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor cans

By Tiffany Carney

Although many letter carriers look forward to the post office's annual food drive, Margaret Dodson, a Sunnyvale mail carrier for 38 years, can't wait for it to come around.

"It's like Christmas," says Dodson, 58. "You go out there and look for the bags and wonder what they are going to give you this year. It's a surprise. I love it."

Dodson doesn't consider the food drive work; she thinks of it as fun. "It is my way of giving back," she says. "I love picking up all that food."

Dodson also enjoys the challenge of fitting as much donated food as she can into the back of her mail truck along with the letters, magazines and packages she picks up and delivers.

Dodson's favorite part of collecting the food is seeing the different items she gets each year. Every year is different, she says. Quantities vary from year to year, too. "Sometimes Second Harvest Food Bank is even surprised at how much food the carriers bring in from the drive," Dodson says.

Participating letter carriers take note of each other's net collections, too, during the post-collection barbecue at their branch and when they receive the letter-carrier newsletter that reports the results of the food drive from each city and branch. Dodson describes the drive as a fun, unofficial competition.

The food drive is only one perk of Dodson's job. Walking and driving her 11-mile route--which includes residential and business areas off Wolfe Road, Gail Avenue, Henrietta Avenue, Pierino Avenue and Maria Lane--allows her to enjoy the fresh air, she says, even when the weather turns bad. During the gloomier times of the year she checks the weather forecast in the morning and packs her raincoat accordingly.

She also talks to her customers, many of whom she sees every day and knows by name. "I like getting to know my customers and watching their kids grow up and, of course, petting the cats and the dogs."

An animal lover, Dodson spends her time away from work visiting her horse, which is stabled near Calero Reservoir. "Every night," she says with a laugh. "It is the only thing that keeps me sane."