08 May 2017 Letter carriers food drive scheduled on May 13

The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will conduct its 25th annual national food drive on Saturday, May 13. The Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, the country’s largest single-day food drive, provides residents with an easy way to donate food to those in need in the community.

Letter carriers will join forces with the Arkansas Foodbank, Heart of Arkansas United Way, U.S. Postal Service and others to help fight hunger in the Little Rock metro area and throughout Arkansas. Letter carriers will fan out across the nation to pick up donated food on doorsteps and beside mailboxes as they deliver the mail.

The concept behind the drive is simple. Leave nonperishable food donations in sturdy bags at mailboxes — and the letter carrier will take care of the rest.

The donations made in Pulaski County on Saturday, May 13, will be delivered to the Arkansas Foodbank and then distributed to those facing hunger right here in Central Arkansas. Several other post office branches will be collecting food items all across our state to be donated to local pantries in their community.

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive, held annually on the second Saturday in May, has become the nation’s largest single-day food drive. Last year’s drive brought in more than 80 million pounds of food and provided assistance to the millions of Americans struggling to put food on the table.

To participate in the Stamp Out Hunger food drive, residents are encouraged to leave a sturdy bag containing non-perishable foods, such as canned soup, canned vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal next to their mailbox prior to the time of regular mail delivery.  Please no glass or homemade items.

Arkansas ranks first in senior hunger according to the National Foundation to End Senior Hunger, first in severe hunger according to the USDA and second in child hunger according to Feeding America. In total, 549,000 Arkansans struggle with hunger. That is yet another indicator that hunger deserves to be a top news story in the state of Arkansas.

People who have questions about the drive in their area should ask their letter carrier, contact their local post office, or go to nalc.org/food, facebook.com/StampOutHunger or twitter.com/StampOutHunger.

The Daughters of the American Revolution and Darby’s Warrior Support will present the Second Annual Salute Our Warriors fundraising event at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 18, at Harding University. Guest speakers are Col. and Mrs. Shawn Daniel. A Bad Boy Zero Turn Mower will be given away as a door prize. Space is limited. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit darbyswarriorsupport.org or call 501.724.0109.