Letter carriers to collect food donations May 14

The National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger food drive will mark its 30th anniversary Saturday, May 14.

Letter carriers walk through the community every day, often coming face to face with the sad reality of hunger for too many people.

Each year on the second Saturday in May, letter carriers across the country collect nonperishable food donations from their customers. Donations go directly to local food pantries to provide food to people in the community who need help.

Over the course of the 29-year history, the drive has collected well over 188 billion pounds of food, thanks to a postal service universal delivery network that spans the entire nation, including Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Delaware alone collected 268,399 pounds in 2019. Organizers hope to expand on this number in 2022.

The need for food donations is great. Currently, 42 million Americans, 1 in 6, are unsure where their next meal is coming from. Some 16 million are children who feel hunger’s impact on their overall health and ability to perform in school. And nearly 5 million seniors over age 60 are food-insecure, with many who live on fixed incomes too embarrassed to ask for help.

The letter carriers’ food drive timing is critical. Food banks and pantries often receive the majority of their donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. By springtime, many pantries are deleted, entering the summer low on supplies at a time when many school breakfast and lunch programs are not available to children in need.

Participating in this year’s Letter Carrier Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is simple; residents can just leave a nonperishable food donation in a bag by their mailboxes Saturday, May 14, to help in the fight to end hunger and food insecurity.