April 19, 2022
The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will conduct its 30th annual national food drive on Saturday, May 14.
The Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive is the country's largest single-day food drive and provides residents with an easy way to donate food to those in need.
Every post office in Catawba County participates and letter carriers will collect the donations residents leave near their mailboxes as they deliver mail along their postal routes on May 14. People are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, canned meats and fish, pasta, rice or cereal next to their mailbox before the regular mail delivery on Saturday.
The food is distributed to local non-profits like Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry, Eastern Catawba Cooperative Christian Ministry and The Salvation Army in Hickory, according to local coordinator Wayne Eller.
And every item donated has an impact. Last year, The Salvation Army of Greater Hickory served 483 households with food while the Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry added 603 new households to their list in 2021. Eastern Catawba Cooperative Christian Ministry distributed 1.5 million pounds of food last year.
Eller reminds everyone not to donate frozen food, homemade food or home-canned items. Please do not donate items that have expired or are in glass containers.
The Letter Carriers' food drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam, according to the NALC.
Over the course of its 29-year history, the drive has collected well over 1.88 billion pounds of food, thanks to a postal service universal delivery network that spans the entire nation.
Food banks and pantries often receive most of their donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. By springtime, many pantries are depleted, entering the summer low on supplies at a time when many school breakfast and lunch programs are not available to children in need.
It remains as important as ever, with many people facing economic struggles. Hunger affects about 1 in 6 people around the country, including millions of children, senior citizens and military veterans.
Learn more at https://nalc.org/community-service/food-drive.