ST. LOUIS –The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will conduct its annual national food drive on Saturday, May 14. The Stamp Out Hunger food drive, which was first held in 1983, helps feed millions of Americans.
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The Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive is the country's largest one-day food drive and provides residents with an easy way to donate food to those in need. Locally, the NALC has partnered with the St. Louis Area Foodbank. The Foodbank will utilize all donations for distribution across the bi-state region in their 26-county service area in Missouri and Illinois.
Customers are invited to make a donation of food or a monetary donation. If choosing to donate food, simply leave their donation of non-perishable food items next to their mailbox before the delivery of the mail on Saturday, May 14. Letter carriers will collect these food donations on that day as they deliver mail along their postal routes, and distribute them to local food banks, pantries, shelters and churches. If you would like to make a monetary contribution, you may do so by visiting https://bit.ly/SLAFBSOH2022.
Hunger affects 1 in 8 Americans, including millions of children, senior citizens and veterans. The St. Louis Area Foodbank is able to provide four meals for every one dollar they receive. Last year, the Foodbank provided more than 52 million meals to those facing food insecurity. The need is as great as ever, given the pandemic-caused economic dislocations of the past two years. The traditional food drive is returning this year after a two-year hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Letter carriers are a part of every neighborhood in the nation," NALC President Fredric Rolando said, "and we see the growing need for food assistance in our communities. On Saturday, May 14, NALC invites everyone to participate in the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Together, we can help stamp out hunger in America."
St. Louis Area Foodbank President and CEO, Meredith Knopp shared, “The timing of this initiative is critical. We are seeing a significant increase in need across our region due to inflation and rising food and transportation costs. Our retail partners are facing those same challenges which is impacting the amount of support they can provide to us at this time. The donations of food and financial support from the St. Louis community will be vital as we work to ensure our neighbors have the food they need and deserve.”
On May 14, as they deliver mail, the nation's 200,000 letter carriers will collect the donations that residents have left near their mailboxes. People are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, canned meats and fish, pasta, rice or cereal next to their mailbox before the regular mail delivery on Saturday. The food donations stay in each community, going to help local residents.
Several national partners are assisting NALC in the food drive: the U.S. Postal Service, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, Vericast, United Way Worldwide, the AFL-CIO, Valpak, the Kellogg Co. and CVS Health.
This year's effort includes a public service announcement featuring letter carriers and NALC President Rolando: https://youtu.be/dhfHDGkdUsQ.
People who have questions about the drive in their area should ask their letter carrier, contact their local post office, or go to https://www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive, facebook.com/StampOutHunger or twitter.com/StampOutHunger.
To learn more about St. Louis Area Foodbank and ways that you can get involved, please visit: www.stlfoodbank.org.
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