On May 9th, your letter carrier will be making an extra stop.
Leave a bag of non-perishable food by your mailbox, canned goods, pasta, peanut butter, cereal, and they will carry it with them on their route, delivering it directly to a local food bank or pantry by end of day. No drop-off location to find. No special trip. Just a bag by the mailbox.
That simple, efficient idea has added up to something remarkable. Since the National Association of Letter Carriers launched its Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive in 1993, the campaign has collected more than 1.7 billion pounds of food nationally. In a strong year it gathers roughly 80 million pounds in a single day, making it one of the largest single-day food drives in the country.
The food stays local. Donations collected in your community go directly to Feeding America partner food banks and pantries serving your neighbors, distributed through food pantries, soup kitchens, and community assistance programs in the same ZIP codes where they were collected.
Letter carriers know their routes and they know their communities. On May 9th, they are putting both to good use.