Leave a bag of food by your mailbox
By Dee McKinsey—
MUNCIE, IN—This Saturday, May 13, is the 31st annual Letter Carrier Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive when postal workers gather bags of food from homes on their delivery route. The annual drive is held this time of year when food supplies may be diminished unlike the holidays when the public is more aware of the need.
Postal patrons are encouraged to leave non-perishable items such as pasta, cereal, oatmeal, canola oil, peanut butter and canned goods, including beans, fruit, vegetables, soup, tuna in water, meat and sauce. Please avoid glass containers.
Letter Carriers and the US Postal Service have collected over 1.82 billion pounds of food in the United States over the 30 years as a national food drive.
The need for food donations is great. Currently, more than 35 million Americans are unsure where their next meal is coming from. More than 12 million are children who feel hunger’s impact on their overall health and ability to perform in school. And nearly 5.2 million seniors over age 60 are food insecure, with many who live on fixed incomes often too embarrassed to ask for help.
The letter carriers will collect the donations and distribute them to local food banks. Over the last 30 years, the drive has collected nearly two billion pounds of food.
The United States Postal Service is an independent federal establishment, mandated to be self-financing and to serve every American community through the affordable, reliable and secure delivery of mail and packages to nearly 165 million addresses six and often seven days a week. Overseen by a bipartisan Board of Governors, the Postal Service is implementing a 10-year transformation plan, Delivering for America, to modernize the postal network, restore long-term financial sustainability, dramatically improve service across all mail and shipping categories, and maintain the organization as one of America’s most valued and trusted brands.
