#StampOutHunger

As many of my blog readers will be aware, my day job is carrying mail for the United States Postal Service. My official job title is Letter Carrier, and as such, I am a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers. Considering that I grew up in a right-to-work state with a lot of deep-seated prejudices against unions, joining one was a big step out of my comfort zone. I'm pretty used to it now, though, and am quite thankful for the work my union and other unions do to protect worker rights.

One of the things the NALC does each year is hold the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. This one day food drive, this year to be held on Saturday, May 14th, is the largest single-day food drive in the country. Last year we collected about 71 million pounds of food, and over the previous 23 years we have collected over 1.4 Billion pounds of food. All of this food stays in the area where it was collected, serving those local individuals and families in need.

Letter carriers across the nation are requesting that each household leave a bag of non-perishable food items (such as peanut butter, canned tuna, rice, etc.) near their mail-box for carriers to collect as we walk our routes on Saturday. This food will then be taken to a local food bank or food pantry, to help re-stock shelves at a critical time of year.

Many folks think of donating food around the holidays, but coming out of winter and heading toward summer is a time when many food distribution centers are depleted and need an extra boost. We are hoping to provide that, and with your help we can make steps to help #StampOutHunger in America.



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