NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
May 3, 2013 Contact: Nanci Micke
United Way Fox Cities
VP Marketing & Communications
954-7215 direct
Annual Letter Carriers Food Drive
May 11, 2013
Nation’s Largest One-day Effort to “Stamp Out Hunger”
The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will be conducting the nation’s largest food drive to combat hunger on Saturday, May 11 in all 50 states and jurisdictions. Non-perishable food donations such as canned meat and fish, soup, cereals, pasta and rice, can be placed in a bag near the mailbox before the carrier delivers the mail.
The food is taken back to the postal station, sorted, and then delivered to area food pantries, including; St. Joe’s Food Program, Christ the Rock Church, and Salvation Army. Captain Randy Tooley, corps officer Fox Cities Salvation Army said, “The National Association of Letter Carriers food drive is so critical to meet our emergency pantry food needs. Without the efforts of Stamp Out Hunger we would not be able to restock our shelves of peanut butter and canned soup for those who are in need in the Valley. Demands are up but donations are significantly down so now if folks have the ability to donate an item or two this is a perfect chance. We need to restock bare shelves.”
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 50 million Americans are food insecure, meaning they live at risk of hunger. Perhaps most alarming is the fact that nearly 17 million children in America are struggling with hunger. In the Fox Cities, United Way’s 2-1-1 Call Center noted a 7% increase in requests for help with food in 2012.
Celebrating its 21th anniversary this year, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive is the largest single day food drive, having collected more than one billion pounds of food since its inception in 1993. In 2012, generous Americans donated 70.7 million pounds of food, which marked the ninth consecutive year that at least 70 million pounds were collected. Co-sponsors of the drive include the AFL-CIO Community Services network; Feeding America, United Way and Campbell Soup.
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