Postal Workers Deliver for Belmont Food Pantry

Around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, a small US Postal Service truck stops in the rear of Belmont High School and Belmont postal worker Debbie Simpson hops out to make a delivery.

But Simpson isn't bringing mail or magazines; today, it is pasta, cans of soup and paper towels in a bag that was left for her to take to the Belmont Food Pantry. 

For Patty Mihelich, the director of the town's food pantry, the annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive is a life saver.

"We are having a very good day," said Mihelich.

With summer approaching and the number of residents donating to the pantry dwindling to a small number, the drive, part of a national campaign, will fill the room in the modular building in the back of the High School until the fall.

And Saturday saw the most bags brought in by Simpson and her fellow postal workers, with 533 bags or nearly 8,000 pounds of food and other material that will help the 60 families that regularly use the pantry. 

With the help of the Belmont School custodians and maintenance workers in sorting the food stuffs, Mihelich said she is hopeful that there will be enough to last until September when a similar food bag drive is conducted by Belmont Serves.  

The Food Pantry is open on the first and third Saturday of the month from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and the second and fourth Tuesday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.