The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will conduct its 26th annual national food drive on Saturday, May 12. 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 their community. Here in Poulsbo, all donated food goes directly to North Kitsap Fishline, where it will be weighed, sorted, and distributed to households in Poulsbo, Keyport, and Suquamish.
Customers simply leave their donation of non-perishable goods next to their mailbox before the delivery of the mail on Saturday, May 12. Fishline volunteers, in cooperation with the Poulsbo Post Office, will collect food donations along the postal routes.
The Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is the nation’s largest single-day food drive and 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. Since the first national Food Drive in 1993, the Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive has collected more than 1.5 billion pounds of food. Last year, nearly 8,000 pounds of that food went to Fishline.
With the economic struggles many Americans face, the Letter Carriers’ Food Drive is as critical as ever. Not only do millions of Americans go hungry, organizations that help them are in need of replenishments. Hunger affects about 50 million people around the country, including millions of children, senior citizens and veterans. Pantry shelves filled up through winter-holiday generosity often are bare by late spring. And, with most school meal programs suspended during summer months, millions of children must find alternate sources of nutrition.
We’re fortunate that Poulsbo’s postmaster Harry Kleinfelter and his team see these struggles in our community and believe it’s important to do what they can to help.
If you are in the Poulsbo area, we encourage you to leave a sturdy bag—paper or plastic—containing non-perishable foods, such as peanut butter, tuna, cereal, canned fruits and vegetables, next to your mailbox before the regular mail delivery on Saturday, May 12th. If you have questions or need more information about Stamp Out Hunger in our area, you can visit our Stamp Out Hunger Event page HERE.
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.
If you are interested in volunteering with Fishline on that day, please sign up HERE or email [email protected]