Letter Carriers’ 25th annual ‘Stamp Out Hunger’ food drive May 13

The Letter Carriers’ are gearing up for their 25th annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive, the largest one-day collection of donated food for the hungry in the United States.

Pickup day is Saturday, May 13.

You can participate by placing your bag on non-perishable food by your mailbox before your letter carrier’s normal delivery time. Your letter carrier or their helpers will pick it up for delivery to a local food bank.

Last year’s food drive broke prior records, with more than 80 million pounds of food collected nationwide and distributed to pantries, food banks, homeless shelters, religious institutions and other charitable groups that feed the hungry.

In the Greater St. Louis area, Letter Carriers Branch 343 collected 583,000 pounds in St. Louis city and county, and St. Charles, Jefferson and Franklin counties.

In Southern Illinois, nine different Letter Carrier branches collected a total of 293,001 pounds of food. They included Decatur Branch 317, Springfield Branch 80, Alton Branch 309, Belleville Branch 155, East St. Louis Branch 319, Granite City Branch 1132, Southern Illinois Merged Branch 1197, Centralia Branch 738 and Quincy Branch 216.

This year, there are a few new twists to add to the tons of food flowing in.

One, available to Letter Carriers, their allies – including the AFL-CIO, the Rural Letter Carriers and the United Food and Commercial Workers – and postal customers is a one-stop online shop to order wearable and promotional food drive-related items, such as t-shirts, hats and buttons. The items come from a unionized promotional firm outside the Washington, D.C., and are available at stampouthungerstore.com. The drive’s overall site stampouthunger.com.

Letter Carriers National President Fredric Rolando said the union hopes to collect even more food this year for those who need it most.

“Letter Carriers see many” of the hungry “along our routes each day,” he told the Postal Record. “Our food drive can make a positive difference in the lives of those who have been dealt difficult hands.”