Letter carriers had a lot to carry on Saturday, May 10. Not only did they deliver the mail, they also collected food donations for the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. The nationwide event is a collaboration of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the National Rural Carriers’ Association and food banks.
This year the food drive collected 1.3 million pounds of nonperishable food in Oregon and Clark County, Washington. In the Portland metro area, 538,208 pounds of food was gathered. Nationally, the food drive brought in more than 73 million pounds of food in more than 10,000 cities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.
Since the food drive began in 1992, more than 1.3 billion pounds of food have been collected and distributed by NALC and community supporters.
To pull off the event in Oregon, hundreds of volunteers assisted letter carriers in picking up food, loading food into shipping containers and sorting food for distribution. Postal customers were asked to leave bags of non-perishable food next to their mailboxes on May 10 for letter carriers to pick up.
Susannah Morgan, CEO of Oregon Food Bank, said “a food drive this big will help fill the summer gap. During the school year kids have access to free and reduced price meals at school. In the summer they lose that food source. Many families find themselves needing additional food assistance.”
NALC International President Fredric Rolando applauded the work done by his organization’s members: “This demonstrates the value of the unique postal network, which goes to 151 million addresses six days a week. It also shows the strong connection between letter carriers and the communities they serve — a bond that serves the nation well. Letter carriers see firsthand the needs in the communities where we work, and we’re honored to be able to help people in need by leading an effort that brings out the best in so many Americans.”
