Dear Editor,

As the food drive coordinator for the Kirkland Post Office, I would like to extend thanks to the Kirkland community for their outstanding support of our food drive this year.

This year posed a challenge with rising gas and grocery prices: Would the community rise to the challenge of supporting increasing numbers of people requesting assistance? For Kirkland?

Of course.

Last year we collected 37,000 pounds of food. This year, 46,000 pounds of food, a 9,000-pound increase in one year. We have never seen such a jump in contributions as we did this year. Not only that, but this is the first year that we actually made our goal of 40,000 pounds.

Your letter carriers love serving their customers. But this time, it was very gratifying when the customers served their Kirkland neighbors. We were just there to help.

~Patrice K. Yeatter, Food Drive Coordinator, Kirkland Post Office