Surrounded by community donated food is Rae Nicely, executive director of Lehigh Community Services. So much food was collected by postal carriers on May 10 that much of it is being stored at the agency. MEL TOADVINE

The annual collection of food by letter carriers for Lehigh Community Services was a huge success, according to Rae Nicely, who said more than 32,000 pounds of food were picked up two weeks ago and she and volunteers spent several days last week sorting the food and preparing it for storage.

“The people of Lehigh are so generous when we need help. It’s just phenomenal that we were able to receive so much food. This will help Lehigh Community Services through the summer hopefully as we give out food to an ever increasing demand,” Nicely said.

Publix supermarkets supplied bags that were left at postal boxes in Lehigh two weeks ago and residents were encouraged to put non-perishable food in the bags and leave them at their mailboxes for pick up on Saturday, May 3.

Letter carriers dropped off much of the food at the Plaza Drive site of Lehigh Community Services and at Faith Lutheran Church on Leeland Heights Boulevard.

Using simple math, the 32,000 pounds of food represents 16 tons of canned and boxed foods.

Volunteer Vicki Ullemeyer, who has helped out at Lehigh Community Services for several years, said it was “overwhelming,” to see that much food come to the agency.

Executive Director Nicely said it is one of the largest ever collections of food in one day since she has been ahead of Community Services. She said she owes thanks, not only to the “generous people of Lehigh,” but to most of the churches in Lehigh that collect food and donate it to her agency, and to many schools, clubs and organizations in Lehigh that continue to collect food every month. Many make financial donations.

Nicely said that she has rented three storage units at Town and Lakes Storage and the rest of the food is in the office on Plaza Drive.

“The food, canned and non-perishable must be in an air conditioned unit where the temperature is kept at 74 degrees. What we didn’t take to the storage units is here in the office,” she laughed.

“That means we have some 6,800 pounds (three tons) of food right here in our offices. We have had to move furniture around and put chairs in other places in order to accommodate the food,” she laughed, “but it’s great to have all that food to help others.”

Last week on Thursday afternoon, Lehigh Community Services hosted the Greater Lehigh Acres Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours event. Visitors mingled in the offices alongside of piled up canned and boxed food, but everyone had a great time, from all accounts.

Nicely said of the volunteers, “There were lots of teenagers who helped out, too.”

“Those big boxes of food the postal carriers brought us were very heavy as you can imagine. It took some strong arms to help lift them,” Nicely said.

The food pantry has reopened after being closed for four days in order to get the food unloaded and sorted. Part of that sorting progress is marking the barcodes on the cans and boxes with a black marker so the food cannot be returned to a food store to get refund money. It’s a small problem that sometimes occurs, Nicely said.

“The food is for our families. We don’t want it being returned, so the bar codes are marked so stores won’t accept the food,” she said.

“The volunteers also have sorted the foods to the types they are, such as peanut butter, jellies, spaghetti sauces, salmon and tuna, canned vegetable, etc.,”

Almost every food item you can imagine is there.

The rear of the building has shelving where the food is stored to give out and when more food arrives, it is put on shelves there so volunteers can gather it up for deserving families that qualify for free food.

“I really appreciate the help of the Lehigh Kiwanis Club for all their help. Henry Gomez who is with the Kiwanis Thrift Store, delivered the food to the storage units. That was a lot of hard work,” Nicely said.

She also noted that foods are dated when they can be sold at a store and sometimes people don’t realize it when they give food away to the agency.

“If it is outdated food, we cannot give it away as part of the program, but it doesn’t go to waste. We have a bin for it and tell the people that it is outdated and if they want it, then they should take it. It doesn’t last long,” she said.

Cans that are bulged at either ends are not kept because of possible spoilage inside.

“This year, we only had a small amount of outdated food less than 5 percent,” she said.

Looking around at the large offices of Lehigh Community Services, which also provides room for United Way and other services, Nicely laughed and said having that food all over the office “was a good problem.”

Jack Vealey, a member of several clubs in Lehigh and one-time owner of Jack’s Market, kidded and said Lehigh Community Services has more food than most small stores, according to Nicely.

“He is so great and kind and whenever we need him, he is always there. We appreciate people like him,” she said.

“And how can I ever thank the Kiwanis Club? They are the greatest as are the many people who help to support us,” Nicely said.

“Overwhelming and phenomenal they’re the words for this,” she smiled.