FULTON - Although donations from Saturday's food drive are still trickling in, Serve Inc.'s total of food collected amounted to about 6,200 pounds as of Thursday.
All the food donated in Callaway County during Saturday's National Association of Letter Carriers "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive was taken to Serve's food pantry. About 1,900 pounds were brought in from the Holts Summit post office, adding to the almost 4,300 pounds collected by the Fulton post office. This year's total, however, was about half of the amount collected last year - 12,000 pounds.
Lisa Brown, Serve executive director, said she hoped for more from the drive, but that there was a "silver lining." She said an anonymous donor, upon hearing Serve only received half as much as last year, gave $500 in cash to the organization.
"The folks of this area always just continue to amaze us," Brown said.
Jacqueline Forsee, officer-in-charge at the Holts Summit post office, said she thinks the economy is what affected donations this year.
"People were just doing the best that they possibly could, and I think it's great that they're still giving," Forsee said. "We just wanted to thank the community for helping us."
Brown said it was heartbreaking how a couple of people put in notes with their donations, saying they weren't able to participate as much as last year due to their finances.
"A lot more people are actually feeling the pinch themselves," she said.
With Serve facing major budget losses due to recent talk of certain federal programs being cut, Brown said the organization is really pushing for aid from the community. One way she said local people could help is by bringing in extra fresh produce they might have available from their gardens or farms.