About one in six Americans goes hungry or wonders where the next meal will come from. That’s a reality in the United States today, but another fact of life in this country is that people and organizations get together to tackle such problems and to help their fellow Americans.
To combat hunger, the National Association of Letter Carriers will conduct its 27th annual food drive on Saturday, May 11th. Letter carriers will collect non-perishable food donations on that day as they deliver mail along their postal routes.
Our local letter carriers are joining those across the nation for the country’s largest single-day food drive, held annually on the second Saturday in May. Food will be collected in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.
“Many people in this country still go hungry every day,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said. “We are honored to be able to help people in need by leading an effort that brings out the best in so many Americans. Six days a week, letter carriers see first-hand the needs in the communities where we work, and we’re committed to helping meet those needs.”
Hunger affects about 49 million people around the country, including millions of children and senior citizens. Pantry shelves filled up through winter-holiday generosity often are bare by late spring. And, with most school meal programs suspended during summer months, millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition.
In 2013, letter carriers collected 74.4 million pounds of food donations along their postal routes, the second-highest amount since the NALC’s food drive began in 1992. That brought the total to nearly 1.3 billion pounds for the food drive.
How it works
On May 11th, as they deliver mail, the nation’s 175,000 letter carriers will collect the donations that residents leave near their mail boxes. People are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, canned meats and fish, pasta, peanut butter, rice or cereal, next to their mailbox before the regular mail delivery on Saturday.
Carriers will bring the food to local food banks, pantries or shelters, and all donations stay right here in our community.
It’s easy to help
1. Collect and bag healthy non-perishable food items.
2. Place by mailbox for letter carrier to pick up before regular Saturday mail pick-up.
People who have questions about the drive in their area should ask their letter carrier, contact our local post office, or go to nalc.org/food, facebook.com/StampOutHunger or twitter.com/StampOutHunger.
