Letter carriers across the United States will collect non-perishable food items on Saturday for the 21st “Stamp Out Hunger” Campaign.
It’s a national food drive that supports local food pantries.
Each year, the National Association of Letter Carriers sends out a postcard and bag that can be filled with non-perishable food items.
Justin Hill is a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service in Cape Girardeau. He says the food collected in that city, as well as Jackson, Chaffee and Scott City will go the Southeast Missouri Food Bank.
“It’s easy. Saturday, May 11th all you have to do is put your non-perishable food items next to your mailbox, inside your mailbox, or hanging in a bag on your mailbox and your letter carrier will pick it up about the same time that your mailman delivers your mail every day,” Hill said.
Sharon Burr is a letter carrier at the Park Hills post office. She says all that food can get pretty heavy.
“You know, if you’ve got a bag full of canned goods and it’s weighing you down, you might ask a customer, a resident, ‘Hey do you care if I just leave all this food on your porch and I’ll drive down and get it when get my loop down?’ You’ve got ways that you can do it where it doesn’t weigh you down,” Burr said.
The Stamp Out Hunger drive is the largest single-day food drive in the country.
Last year, letter carriers collected more than 70 million pounds of food.
