Stamp Out Hunger: Nation's Largest Food Drive is Saturday

McDonald's restaurants may proudly boast “Over a Billion Served,” but the National Association of Letter Carriers can say the same when it comes to pounds of food collected for the hungry.

Since 1993 the NALC has collected more than one billion pounds of food through its annual nationwide event, "Stamp Out Hunger" – America’s largest single-day food drive.

This Saturday, more than 1,500 NALC branches from every state, involving more than 10,000 cities and towns, will have more than 230,000 letter carriers collect non-perishable goods from people’s mailboxes.

In Cheshire the non-perishable food donations will benefit  the Cheshire Food Pantry which recently moved to a larger location on Railroad Avenue. It provides food for more than 200 residents weekly.

To donate to the local food drive, just leave a bag (or two) of non-perishable food next to your mailbox and your letter carrier will pick it up. 

Across the country, many have banded together to support for the day’s collection. Campbell’s, a long supporter of the drive, will donate one pound of food (up to one million pounds) to Feeding America for every person who joins the Stamp Out Hunger Facebook community. Additionally, you can join Stamp Out Hunger on Twitter to follow the national collection online as food is gathered on Saturday. 

According to the NALC, the need for donations is greater than ever. The organization stated, “According to the Agriculture Department's most recent study of food security in the United States in 2009, the number of Americans living in so-called 'food insecure' homes topped 50 million. Of those, 17.2 million are children.”

Last year, Tampa, Florida NALC Branch 599 collected 2,062,529 pounds to emerge as the top local union branch in the country.