The National Association of Letter Carriers will conduct the nation’s largest single-day food drive in the 23rd annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Saturday.
Letter carriers will collect non-perishable food donations as they deliver mail along their postal routes. Homes and businesses are invited to fill a bag, or any container, and leave them by the mailbox on Saturday; postal carriers will do the rest. Food can also be dropped off at any post office.
The drive, a partnership with the U.S. Postal Service, Feeding America and other organizations, aims to help America’s hungry.
Currently, 49 million Americans, or one in six, are unsure where their next meal is coming from. Sixteen million are children who feel hunger’s impact on their overall health and ability to perform in school. And nearly five million seniors over age 60 are food insecure, with many who live on fixed incomes often too embarrassed to ask for help.
Nevada carriers collected nearly 440,000 pounds of food during last year’s drive; 78 million pounds of food was collected by postal carriers nationally, feeding an estimated 30 million people. Over the course of the 22-year history, the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive has collected more than one billion pounds of food.
The food drive is held in the spring because food banks and pantries often receive the majority of their donations during Thanksgiving and Christmas. By springtime, many pantries are depleted, entering the summer low on supplies at a time when many school breakfast and lunch programs are not available to children in need.
For more information, go to www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive.