"Stamp Out Hunger" fundraiser begins

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) -The National Association of Letter Carriers has held a nationwide fundraiser for local food shelves since 1993.

Mankato’s chapter is supporting the ECHO Food Shelf, and residents have until the end of May to participate.

Typically the fundraiser sees Postal Service workers collecting food items, but this year it’s been scaled back to only accepting monetary donations, a change that ECHO said actually maximizes each donation.

“They realized that money goes a lot further and money just gives us the ability to buy food at large volumes, more discounts as well,” said ECHO Food Shelf manager Deisy De Leon Esqueda. “So we’re hoping it’s successful and we’re hoping that we can keep going in this direction.”

The fundraiser comes as ECHO is in the middle of an expansion project, building a new walk-in freezer that will significantly increase their capacity for buying food and will allow them to accept larger donations than they’ve previously been able.

That project is expected to finish by the end of the month, just in time for the summer months, where temperature control crucial.

ECHO is also working through changes to federal food programs, which they expect to affect both their funding and the need for assistance for local families.

“I have been with ECHO for 20 years and these are the highest numbers that we have ever seen,” said Esqueda. “As federal program are being cut and as other resources at the state and federal level are being cut and being looked into, we are expecting our numbers to rise even higher.”

Click here to download the KEYC News Now app or our KEYC First Alert weather app.