The Washington Post reported recently that Bob Blair, a retired Federal Emergency Management Administration employee, had started a “volunteer farm” that grows produce for food banks. That same week, I received an email about the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

One offshoot of rising gas prices, foreclosures, and current economic conditions is a shortage of food supplies and more people seeking help at food banks -- which face rising costs too.

Blair started the Volunteer Farm in Woodstock, Va., on land he had bought five years ago to escape his urban routine of working in Washington and living in suburbia.

This year, with the help of schools, churches and other volunteers, the farm’s 40 acres will have watermelons, cantaloupes, green beans, beets, turnips, onions, corn, cucumbers, cabbage and potatoes. Harvesting varies with the planting seasons, but the onions will come in July and the potatoes in August. The fresh produce will be distributed to food banks through the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank network. 

Meanwhile, on Saturday, May 10, the National Association of Letter Carriers will conduct their annual food drive. Supporting the drive, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association is urging members to collect and bag non-perishable food items and place the bag by their mailboxes for letter carriers to pick up on May 10.

Even if you are not a member of NARFE, you can leave a bag of canned goods by your mailbox on that date. No non-perishable food will be turned away.