I’m thrilled to report that thousands of communities throughout America on May 10 donated 72.5 million pounds of non-perishable food items to help feed hungry families across this nation.
On April 25, I wrote a blog about the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, which is sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service® and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).
This marks the 11th consecutive year surpassing 70 million pounds and adds to the more than 1 billion pounds of food collected since Stamp Out Hunger began in 1993. More than 200,000 postal carriers, other postal employees and volunteers came together May 10 for the sole purpose of collecting food to help families in need. About 50 million Americans — including 16 million children — lack sufficient food, according to Feeding America, a partner in the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive and the nation’s leading domestic hunger relief charity.
Most school lunch programs are suspended during the summer months. Millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition and don’t necessarily make the healthiest food choices.
It’s no coincidence that the timing of the food drive is to help make up for the shortfall.
And believe me, Stamp Out Hunger makes a huge difference. Here are a few of the hundreds of testimonials from food banks receiving donations from this year’s drive:
“The Postal Service™ and National Association of Letter Carriers are amazing partners to help get a huge amount of food into our service area through this super food drive. We are thrilled that so many food insecure will benefit with such great food,” said Tim Kean, president and chief executive officer, Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana, Inc., of Muncie, IN.
“The Stamp Out Hunger food drive produces over 500,000 pounds of food for the hungry people in our community. Their commitment to the drive and to serving the people they see on their routes who have trouble making ends meet is truly an inspiration. Thank you to all of our letter carriers for all they do for this drive every year,” said Katie Bromley, food and fund drive manager, Harvesters – The Community Food Network, Kansas City, MO.
We couldn’t have done it without YOU! Thanks for caring and helping us to continue our journey to Stamp Out Hunger in America.