Green thumbs up: A group of young gardeners is learning about the land and giving back to the York City community at the same time.

Youth from Youth Advocate Programs Inc. are tending a plot in the 4-H Community Garden at 234 S. Pershing Ave. They're growing tomatoes, onions, green peppers, cilantro, cucumbers and jalepeños for salsa, which will likely be donated to member families in need, said Travis Hiden, assistant director.

This is the first year the group will have a plot in the garden, which was created two years ago by the city's redevelopment authority and the local 4-H Penn State Extension.

Hiden said Youth Advocate Programs saw the garden as an opportunity to teach the youths to "give back and help others less fortunate."

Many other gardeners donate their produce also, said Tia Underkoffler, 4-H urban educator for Penn State Extension in York County.

For example, last year, the William Penn High School 4-H club gave its produce to a local women's shelter, and the rest of the gardeners either ate their produce or donated it to the community food bank, she said.

"It's a great teaching tool and opportunity to help the community," she said.

Thumbs up: Others around York County also were doing their part to help feed the hungry.

More than 200 local mail carriers of the U.S. Postal Service took part in the 20th National Association of Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger food drive Saturday. Residents were asked to place non-perishable foods at their mailbox, for carriers to collect while making their delivery rounds.

The food was given to about two dozen York County food banks, which were assigned a post office to receive the collected food, mail carrier David Clever said.

The collected items were taken to post offices, where food bank representatives immediately packed the food into trucks for transport to their pantry locations, he said.

Last year's local drive collected just under 60,000 pounds of food, while carriers nationwide collected more than 70 million pounds.