SPOTLIGHT: Stamping Out Hunger

Kris Shaw has been a letter carrier for the Allen Park Post Office for nearly 31 years. Every May, Shaw and his co-workers gather food from local patrons who donate non-perishable items for the needy in the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.

For Shaw, the kindness of Allen Park residents has a special meaning. Long before he became a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers, he remembers being part of a family struggling to make ends meet that used food stamps to put food on his parents’ table in Dearborn.

“My family grew up poor,” Shaw said. “I’m well aware of what it’s like to be poor and hungry. It’s nice to help anybody you can when they have a downturn. I’ve never lost sight of that.”

The annual May food drive has been going on for decades. The idea is for mail carriers to deliver postcards to their customers announcing the collection date, and to return on that date to collect donated food.

For the first time, all food collected in Allen Park was presented to the Fish & Loaves Community Food Pantry, which is based in Taylor and provides for the hungry in Allen Park, Taylor, Southgate, Dearborn Heights, Brownstown Township, Woodhaven and Romulus.

Volunteers help out at the post offices, taking the food items from the carriers and putting them in large bins. This year, Allen Park Boy Scout Troop 1061 and leaders helped at the Allen Park Post Office. Members of Allen Park High School Robotics Team 815 helped at the Dearborn Heights Annex alongside Fish & Loaves volunteers. Palletco provided a truck to transport the food from both locations to Fish & Loaves, located on Northline Road in Taylor.

Allen Park resident Bob Cooper of Fish & Loaves said that residents donated more than 4,200 pounds of food to Allen Park carriers. Fish & Loaves received more than 42,000 pounds in all, including donations from postal patrons in Taylor, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Lincoln Park.

Fish & Loaves is the largest client-choice pantry in the state, spending $250,000 in 2025 to serve 300 to 400 families a week. A Fresh Market food distribution serves about 800 families each Saturday it is operational outside the pantry.

“This is our largest food drive of the year – by far,” said Fish & Loaves CEO Stephanie McNees. “It helps lower our food costs and creates a big influx and variety of food, and helps keep our shelves stocked.”

Carriers Mark Owen and Armando Barraza coordinated the food drive at the Allen Park Post Office.

“The food drive gives us the ability to give back to the people in our communities that need it,” said Owen, the union steward. “To be able to be part of that is something that makes us feel good about our job, actually. It’s a sense of pride.”

Owen added that the collection is “physically demanding” on the carriers, who are delivering mail at the same time, but the cause is worth it.

“We’re just happy to help out the community,” Barraza said. “I moved here last year. I’m real happy to give back to the community. They’ve taken care of me.”

Barraza said they are grateful to Papa Romano’s and Papa’s Pizza for donating pizza, beverages and paper products to serve to carriers and volunteers on collection day.

Customer service supervisor Alex Suave said his 12 years of Catholic schooling at St. Mary Magdallen and St. Frances Cabrini instilled the importance of helping people in need. He and past supervisor Danielle Barrett partnered to create a video promoting the food drive.

“This is one of the longest-running food drives in the country,” McNees said. “It’s amazing how hard the carriers work on this. It truly takes a village.”