Letter carriers were pulling doubling duty on Saturday. Not only were they dropping off mail, but also picking up non-perishable food items for Second Harvest Food Bank. It was all a part of National Stamp Put Hunger Day.

Meet Amrie, at 10 years old, she was one of the first people to drop off donations at one of their locations for National Stamp Out Hunger Day. As she explained, "I wrote a note to the mailman and asked if we could help."

Over the past few weeks, she's gone to her neighbors helping collect food for those in need. "Others need the help and it's important to help others even if sometimes they don't need it", said Amrie.

She's done this for the past three years and doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. As Amrie explained, "Because I love helping others and it makes me feel really happy." 

Director of Development for Second Harvest Food Bank Breanna Watts is inspired by Amrie's dedication to helping others. "It's really awesome to see the next generation of people really care about their neighbors. They want to help, they want to make the world a better place, it's a very heart warming thing to see", said Watts.

All of the food donated will be used in one way or another. Officials with Second Harvest Food Bank said in recent years they have seen the need for food only rise. This comes as the cost of groceries continues to climb. 

As Watts explained, "With Covid and extra stimulus shut off last year, the way inflation is going, the cost of food is risen is highest here in Pennsylvania, higher than any other state across the country. So not is food more expensive for us to purchase, but more people are in need of food than ever before."

But it's not just Erie residents doing their part to donate food, mail carriers all through the country are going door to door to collect food to help their neighbors. "It's a part of one large, one-day food drive, so it makes you feel as if you are connected with people all across the country. People in Erie and in our outlining counties, we have volunteers picking up donations at people's doorsteps, the letter carriers are bringing it back to their specific post offices and those donations will either go back to the food bank or one of our 366 member pantries and goes to our neighbors in need", said Watts.

Their goal for Saturday was to beat last year's goal of collecting over 90,000 pounds of non-perishable food items.