Saturday, May 9, 2015, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will collect food donations in order to provide assistance to millions of Americans who are struggling with hunger. Celebrating its 23rd anniversary this year, the Stamp out Hunger food drive is the nation’s largest single-day food drive having collected more than one billion pounds of food since its inception as a national food drive in 1993. The nation’s 180,000 letter carriers will collect food donations left at the mailboxes of generous Americans in more than 10,000 communities and deliver them to food banks and other hunger-relief organizations.
In 2014, generous individuals donated more than 72 million pounds of food, which marked the eleventh consecutive year that at least 70 million pounds were collected.
The need for food donations is great. Currently, 49 million Americans – 1 in 6 – are unsure of 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. Wapello County ranks among the top 5 counties for highest child hunger rates in Iowa. Approximately twenty four percent of children in Wapello County are food insecure. Our local coordinator has set a goal of 20,000 pounds of food to be collected during the 2015 Letter Carrier’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive.
Our food drive’s timing is crucial. Food banks and pantries often receive the majority of their donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. 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.
Participating in this year’s Letter Carrier Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is simple. Just leave a non-perishable food donation in a bag by your mailbox on Saturday, May 9th and your letter carrier will do the rest. Join in America’s great day of giving and help us fight to end hunger.