As a retired letter carrier with the United States Postal Service and a volunteer and member of the board of directors at Damien’s Place Food Pantry in Wareham, Paul LeBeau has both collected food and has seen city letter carriers collecting food for the National Association of Letter Carriers’ "Stamp Out Hunger" event for over 20 years.

He said that about two years ago, rural letter carriers had joined the effort to collect food from residents on their routes as part of Stamp Out Hunger, and the results have made a big difference both around the country and for Damien’s as well.

“We appreciate the letter carriers doing it,” he said, noting that as of noon on Monday, they had collected over 33,000 pounds of food from carriers from the Greater New Bedford area, with at least 1,800 of that coming from within the town of Wareham. “We appreciate it at the food pantry here.”

LeBeau said that all the food collected will be utilized locally, as Damien’s serves the entire South Coast area and beyond.

“It went great,” said Christine Munroe, the acting carrier supervisor for the U.S. Postal Service for the town of Wareham. “We still have more food here that needs to be brought to the pantry.”

“I’m looking at it from the other end now,” added LeBeau, who said that everyone at Damien’s was very thankful for the food.  “We’d like to thank the residents of Wareham and the other towns for helping us out.”

Larry Robbins, a longtime volunteer at Damien’s, said this particular drive was one of the best he’s seen since he’s been volunteering there.

“This one is going pretty good right now,” said Robbins Tuesday morning as he and several volunteers were sorting through the U.S. Postal Service bins filled with food from the drive.  “It’s going far better than what I’d expected.”