National Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive Is Saturday

Letter carriers all over the U.S. will be looking to pick up more than just mail this weekend.

Saturday, May 12 is the official day of the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, an initiative of the U.S. Postal Service and the National Association of Letter Carriers.

Residents can do their part by leaving at least one bag of non-perishable food at their mailboxes or wherever their mail is normally left. 

"Everything donated will be distributed to local families in need," said Melissa Rakestraw, a letter carrier with NALC Branch 825, out of the Hoffman Estates Post Office. "We realize that these are tough times and letter carriers want to do what we can to help the people in our communities."

More than 49 million people in America struggle to feed themselves and their families and often end up going hungry, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  One in five, or 16 million of those 49 million people are children.

The postal service and the association of letter carriers has collected more than 1 billion pounds of food since 1992, the year the Stamp Out Hunger initiative began.

For more information about the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, ask a letter carrier, call a local post office or visit helpstampouthunger.com or facebook.com/StampOutHunger.

Follow the drive at twitter.com/StampOutHunger and view the Stamp Out Hunger public service announcement by national spokesperson Nick Cannon, at stampouthunger.info/pages/video_images.html