Postal workers collecting food donations for needy

Wednesday, 23 May 2012 by Justin Cox

Helping Hands Ministry volunteers help unload donated food during the National Association of Letter Carriers Annual Food Drive last year.On Saturday, May 12, place a bag of food to be picked up and it will help feed a needy family.

The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) is encouraging everyone to help "Stamp Out Hunger" in our communities. The annual food drive has grown from a regional to a national effort that provides assistance to the millions of Americans struggling to put food on the table.

Central Texas area food shelf locations like Helping Hands and other charitable organizations rely on events such as these to be the backbone of their supply line to the needy families. It's one of the big events they count on.

Belton residents can donate just like any other residents across the nation will do this Saturday - by collecting non-perishable food items, placing them in a bag and leaving it for their local mail carrier to pick up.

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive, held on the second Saturday in May, has become the nation's largest single-day food drive benefitting Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization. In 2011, Americans donated 70.2 million pounds of food, which marked the eighth consecutive year that at least 70 million pounds were collected by letter carriers.

To participate in the 20th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive, you are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal next to their mailbox prior to the time of regular mail delivery on Saturday, May 12. The nation's 210,000 letter carriers, representing nearly 1,500 NALC branches, will collect these food donations as they deliver the mail and take them to a local Feeding America food bank or hunger relief organization in more than 10,000 communities.

Feeding America provides food assistance to 37 million Americans every year.

For more information about the annual food drive, visit www.helpstampouthunger.com or www.facebook.com/StampOutHunger.

• < Prev
• Next >