Sarah Hughes Visit

Delivering Her Support
Sarah Hughes joins letter carriers in LI food drive

By Rhoda Amon
NEWSDAY STAFF WRITER

May 7, 2003

It was another crazy day in the life of letter carrier George Habermehl, whose routine hasn't been normal since a teenager on his route won an Olympic gold medal.

Habermehl, who delivers mail from all over the world addressed simply to "Sarah Hughes, Great Neck NY," joined the young skating champion yesterday at the kickoff in Garden City of the Long Island letter carriers' 11th annual "Stamp out Hunger" food drive. It was a kickoff like none before it, with TV cameras whirring and spectators vying to get their picture taken with Hughes. "This is all new to me," said Habermehl, 56, who has been delivering mail to the Hughes' neighborhood for 14 years and has known Hughes since she was 4.

Hughes said she wanted to create an awareness of the need to help the hungry on Long Island. She urged Long Islanders to leave nonperishable food next to their mail boxes on Saturday to be collected by their letter carriers. "It's crucial for everyone to help," Hughes said.

The Saturday event, part of the nationwide food drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers and the U.S. Postal Service, takes on more importance this year with unemployment on the rise. The island's food pantries and soup kitchens face "real shortages during the summer months when donations drop off and more children come in because the schools are closed and they're not getting school lunches," said Jean Kelly, executive director of the Interfaith Nutrition Network, which feeds 3,000 daily at 18 soup kitchens and four shelters. Other cooperating agencies include Island Harvest, Long Island Cares and the United Way of Long Island.

Rick Hubert, drive coordinator for Long Island Branch 6000 of the letter-carriers' union, said the goal was to "fill every shelf in every food pantry and soup kitchen." This year's drive got a headstart from the Campbell Soup Co., which brought 1 million cans of food and spokeswoman Hughes.

More than 1,000 volunteers are needed to sort and pack 1.2 million pounds of food in the Bethpage Priority Mail Processing Center May 12-14 and at Long Island Cares Hauppauge headquarters May 19-22. Volunteers can call 1-800-VOLUNTEER.