Yes, the chicken’s in the mail

Vancouver mail carrier Lon Frantz had a little extra help on his route Saturday.

His 3-year-old son came along during the annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive, helping to load blue plastic bags full of vittles into a cart pulled by his mother, Shannon Frantz, and friend Lori Redinger.

“The nice thing is it all stays here in the county,” Frantz said during his morning route through Vancouver’s Carter Park neighborhood.

Vancouver food drive coordinator Cathy Hulse said Vancouver mail carriers were hoping to exceed the 156,000 pounds of containers collected last year for the Clark County Stop Hunger Warehouse.

Food contributions may be lightened due to high unemployment, but Hulse said other contributors tend to pick up the slack during tough times.

“It seems to balance out,” she said.

Vancouver postal carriers had arranged for five semitruck trailers, though they won’t know how much they’ve collected in the 18th annual drive until totals are tabulated next week.

The letter carriers’ annual effort is the nation’s largest single-day food drive. The National Association of Letter Carriers set a record last year with 73.4 million pounds collected.