GREENFIELD — Postal carriers across the nation will participate in country’s largest single-day food drive Saturday during the U.S. Postal Service’s annual Stamp Out Hunger effort. The event benefits millions of Americans struggling to get enough to eat.
Here are three things to know about the food drive:
1. It’s needed.
People living in every corner of the United States struggle to put food on their family’s tables when faced with choosing between bills and groceries. Approximately 50 million Americans live with a risk of hunger, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An average of 16 million children and 4.8 million seniors across the country struggle as well.
2. It’s easy.
Participating in the Stamp Out Hunger food drive is simple, post office officials said. Residents are asked to place a bag containing nonperishable food items next to their mailbox prior to their regular Saturday delivery time. Postal workers will collect the donations when they deliver the day’s mail.
Food will be taken to local food banks, organizers said. Items such as canned fruits, vegetables and soups, pasta noodles, rice and boxes of cereal make for acceptable donations.
3. It’s successful.
Since it began, the Stamp Out Hunger campaign has collected more than a billion pounds of food, organizers said. The food drive has produced more than 70 million pounds of food for 11 consecutive years; in 2014, the effort yielded 72.5 million pounds of food, feeding roughly 30 million people.
