NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mail Call For Food Donations

May 3, 2007 -- Middlesex County Food Organization Outreach Distribution Services (M.C.F.O.O.D.S.), Middlesex County's Emergency Food Network, is asking residents in New Brunswick, North Brunswick and Highland Park to donate non-perishable food and other personal necessities by simply leaving these items at the mailbox during the annual Letter Carrier Drive on Sat., May 12.

Residents in other towns who have received postcard notification from the National Association of Letter Carriers can also leave items, which will be donated to local food pantries.

Mail carriers in New Brunswick, North Brunswick, and Highland Park will pick up donated items along their routes and take them to the M.C.F.O.O.D.S. warehouse in New Brunswick. Many volunteers have signed up to assist with the unloading of trucks.

"We really count on this drive to help get us through the summer when donations are low," said Jennifer Apostol, project manager of the Middlesex County Improvement Authority and M.C.F.O.O.D.S. coordinator. "Contributing even just a few items will really make a difference."

Items that are most needed include: peanut butter, tuna fish, cereal, macaroni and cheese, rice, and soup.

Many families are in need of help during the summer because schools are not providing children with free breakfast and lunch.

Freeholder Blanquita Valenti, who serves as liaison to M.C.F.O.O.D.S., encourages everyone to donate during the Letter Carrier Drive, and throughout the year.

"We have really seen the need for food increase dramatically in the last couple of years," Valenti said. "We ask that residents remember us all year long."

Residents may continue to drop off food at public libraries in Edison, Milltown, Monroe, East Brunswick, North Brunswick, Plainsboro, South Brunswick, Spotswood, Woodbridge, Metuchen, South Plainfield and Perth Amboy.

For more information on M.C.F.O.O.D.S., visit the Middlesex County Improvement Authority website at: www.mciauth.com.

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