With support from Harvest Fresh Produce Bank
Photo by Calle Macarone on Unsplash
Saturday, May 11th is one of America's great days of giving: the National Association of Letter Carriers' (NALC) Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive. Letter carriers travel throughout the region every day and are often faced with the sad reality that too many households are suffering from hunger. Every year on the second Saturday of May, mail carriers across the country collect non-perishable food donations from customers. These donations go directly to local food pantries to feed those in need of our assistance. Donations collected in Berks County will be donated to Helping Harvest Fresh Food Bank.
The Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive delivered 97,373 pounds of food to Helping Harvest in 2023. On the second Saturday in May, 61 volunteers came to the warehouse and he spent 152.5 volunteer hours helping sort and package the donated food. If you are interested in volunteering for this major giving event on Saturday, May 11th, please call Helping Harvest at 610-926-5802 ext. 220.
Thanks to the Postal Service's universal delivery network across the country, including Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the effort has collected well over 1.9 billion pounds of food in its 30-year history. The need for food donations is great. Currently, more than 44 million Americans don't know where their next meal will come from. More than 13 million children feel that hunger is affecting their overall health and performance in school. Approximately 5.5 million people over the age of 60 are food insecure, many living on fixed incomes and often too embarrassed to ask for help.
The timing of food drives is critical. Food banks and pantries often receive the bulk of their donations during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. By spring, many food pantries are depleted, leaving many schools short of supplies and entering the summer with many school breakfast and lunch programs unable to reach children in need. Participating in this year's Letter Carrier Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive is easy. On Saturday, May 11, you can leave your non-perishable food donation in a bag near your mailbox and our mail carrier will do the rest. Join us in our fight to end hunger.
Help Harvest Fresh Food Bank is a leading provider of food to people in need in Berks and Schuylkill Counties, Pennsylvania. Harvest delivers food to more than 350 of his partners in Berks and Schuylkill counties, and last year he provided more than $17 million in food to more than 140,000 residents in the community. Helping Harvest is a member of Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger relief organization.