Community Corner

Letter Carriers Deliver For the Hungry

Stamp Out Hunger Day is Saturday, May 12 - local post offices will pick up your nonperishable items right from your mailbox...you just have to fill the bag.

The facts are a bit sobering:

  • 1 in 6 Americans live at or below the poverty line
  • 1 in 7 Americans use some form of food stamps
  • 5.7 million utilize food banks to supplement their pantries at home

(sources: USDA Food Security Report 2010, Feeding America Annual Report 2011)

However, the need doesn't go unheard, and the National Letter Carriers Association is again presenting "Stamp Out Hunger Day," Saturday, May 12.

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If you don't have any "Stamp Out Hunger" donation bags, any small donation in a bag will do. They are joining with the nation’s 210,000 letter carriers to collect food donations left at the mailbox in more than 10,000 communities and deliver them to food banks and other hunger relief organizations.

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and is the nation’s largest single-day food drive, having collected more than one billion pounds of food since its inception in 1993. Last year's efforts netted 70.2 million pounds of food, the eighth consecutive year that at least 70 million pounds were collected, according to their website.

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Campbell Soup Company is also pledging to donate one million pounds of food to Feeding America as part of this year's campaign.

A few caveats: you can donate items like canned meats, fish, soup, bottled juice, vegetables, pasta, cereal and rice that do not require refrigeration. Please do not include items that have expired or are in glass containers. As Saturday routes may vary from regular weekday routes and drivers, do set your items out early so your letter carrier doesn't miss it.


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