Page 4 - MidWeek Leeward - Dec 8, 2021

4 DECEMBER 8, 2021
Pearl City Letter Carrier Asks For Help In Virtual Food Drive
BY DON ROBBINS
pounds of food this year.
“A $20 donation pro- vides about 25 meals and is equivalent to almost 240 pounds of food. Our goal can still be reached if we collect about $100,000. We are about a third of the way there. Please help support this great cause,” Yoshika- wa says of the event, which has been taking place for the
p.m. at night. After reaching out to the community, we have close to a hundred vol- unteers and go home before dark. Talk about a win-win event,” Yoshikawa empha- sizes.
eas and trucks. Our goal is to keep ourselves and our customers safe and hap- py. One of the ways that we give back to the community is through our annual food drive,” she emphasizes.
Pearl City Post Office employee Adele Yoshikawa asks the public to support the annual National Associa- tion of Letter Carriers annu- al Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
The COVID-19 pandem- ic has changed the nature of letter carriers’ jobs.
“This could be one of the most important and life-changing food drives that we’ve coordinated,” ac- cording to Yoshikawa.
It is being held now through Dec. 31 and is going virtual this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
past 28 years.
“Letter carriers do more
Cindy Namahoe (left) who works for Contractors License Center and is also a board member for WLH-Wahine Leaders of Hawai‘i, presents a check for more than $5,000 to National Association of Letter Carriers food drive representative Adele Yoshikawa last year. PHOTO COURTESY ADELE YOSHIKAWA
“We have never worked so hard for such an extended time frame. It’s been like an eight-month Christmas rush for us. We have become a vital lifeline for our custom- ers, who have gone online to order cleaning supplies, toiletries and just about any- thing else you can think of,” Yoshikawa declares.
She says that it could change how the food drives are done in the future, since everyone can now donate online. Yoshikawa notes that letter carriers cannot collect any food or personally ac- cept cash or check donations on their routes.
People can donate to Ha- wai‘i Foodbank at igfn.us/ vf/nalc or by texting NALC to 71777. They can also contribute to the effort by writing a check to Hawai‘i Foodbank, 2611 Kilihau St., Honolulu, HI, 96819 and putting NALC and their ZIP code in the memo line. The goal is to collect 1 million
than just deliver the mail,” notes Yoshikawa, who has worked as a carrier for 23 years and has been a food drive coordinator for more than 15 years.
drive, the shelves were full. The NALC holds the record for the largest one day event held in the nation,” Yoshika- wa shares.
Often, seniors in high school have to do a commu- nity service project before graduation, and they assist with the effort and receive volunteer letters, she adds.
“I became very passionate when I first saw the results of our food drive. The shelves were empty and, after our
“My brother, who passed away last year, was home- less at one time and the Ha- wai‘i Foodbank helped him during that time,” she adds.
“When I first started the letter carriers would do the work by themselves and we wouldn’t go home until 10
“We adapted to the pan- demic by wearing masks and sanitizing our work ar-
For more info, email ade- leyoshikawa@yahoo.com or call her at 808-351-4095.
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