U.S. Postal Service mail carriers across the Southland and nationwide will participate Saturday in the 33rd annual “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive, billed as the largest one-day food drive in the nation aimed at assisting families facing food insecurity.
Each year, on the second Saturday of May, members of the National Association of Letter Carriers collect non-perishable food donations and deliver them to local food pantries.
Last year in Los Angeles County, some 1.8 million pounds of food was collected, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 24, which is based in Los Angeles.
The union also said that, over its history, the drive has collected more than 1.9 billion pounds of food across the nation.
Ahead of Saturday’s collections, mail carriers left special bags in many mailboxes around the Southland. Donors can place non-perishable food donations in those bags and leave them by their homes’ mailboxes. On Saturday, carriers will collect the food — as well as deliver the daily mail.
Mail customers can check if their carrier will be part of the collections by checking their delivery ZIP code at nalc.org/community-service/food-drive/branch-lookup, contact their local post office or email communityserviceshq@nalc.org.
“More than 44 million Americans are unsure where their next meal will come from. More than 14 million are children who feel hunger’s impact on their overall health and ability to perform in school,” according to a statement from the association.
Additionally, the association said, the food drive comes at an important time, as food banks and pantries typically receive their bulk of donations during the winter.