Participate in Letter Carriers Food Drive this Saturday, May 14

The following is from AFL-CIO Now:

The 24th annual Letter Carriers’ “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive is on May 14 this year. The food drive, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), is the world’s largest one-day food drive, taking place in more than 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

Participating in the food drive couldn’t be easier. Before their regular mail pickup on Saturday, May 14 postal customers are asked to leave bags of non-perishable food items by their mailboxes. Letter carriers will pick up the bags and — with help from retired letter carriers, other postal employees and countless volunteers — deliver the bags to local food agencies.

Hunger affects some 50 million people around the country, including millions of children, seniors and veterans. Pantry shelves filled up through winter-holiday generosity often are bare by late spring. And, with most school meal programs suspended during summer months, millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition.

Because the nation’s 175,000 letter carriers visit every address in the country at least six days a week, they see the struggles in the communities they serve, and they believe it’s important to do what they can to help.

Several national partners are assisting with the food drive this year, including the AFL-CIO, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA), and the U.S. Postal Service.

In its 23 years, the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive has collected more than 1.4 billion pounds of food; last year’s drive collected about 71 million pounds.

To learn more about the Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, visit this website and follow the drive on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And be sure to use the hashtag #StampOutHunger when talking about the food drive on social media.