Feeding Palm Beach County® Joins National Association of Letter Carriers to Participate in 24th Annual Stamp Out Hunger on May 14
Nation’s Largest One-Day Food Drive Gives Postal Service Customers the Opportunity to Alleviate Hunger in Palm Beach County
Boynton Beach, Fla. – May 3, 2016 – On Saturday, May 14, Feeding America® Food Banks around the country, including Feeding Palm Beach County® — a branch of Feeding South Florida®, will join letter carriers and area residents to fight hunger with the 24th annual Stamp Out Hunger, the nation’s largest one-day food drive.
To participate in Stamp Out Hunger, postal service customers in Palm Beach County will simply place a bag of non-perishable food by their mailboxes, which letter carriers will pick up during mail delivery.
Stamp Out Hunger is conducted by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) in cooperation with the U.S. Postal Service. Letter carriers in more than 10,000 communities across America will pick up donated food items when they service their postal routes on May 14. In 2015, Stamp Out Hunger collected 70.6 million pounds of food, marking 12 consecutive years in which the NALC drive has surpassed 70 million pounds of food collected. The 2015 results bring the total to more than 1.4 billion pounds collected since the drive began in 1992.
In 2015, letter carriers from branch 1690 in Palm Beach County collected and donated almost 100,000 pounds of food to Feeding South Florida. Caring citizens can help letter carriers and Feeding Palm Beach County top these numbers in 2016.
Suggested donations include:
- Canned protein such as tuna, chicken and turkey
- Beans (canned or dry)
- Canned meals such as soups, chili and pasta
- Canned fruits and vegetables
- Peanut butter
- Macaroni & Cheese
- Dry goods such as cereal, rice and pasta
- Spaghetti or pasta sauce
- 100 percent juice
Items collected in Palm Beach County will be sorted at Feeding Palm Beach County headquarters and distributed to its more than 100 Palm Beach County partner agencies. This food will provide nourishment for families, children, older adults, people with special needs, veterans and the homeless population, some of whom represent the newly unemployed. Approximately 202,110 food insecure individuals live in Palm Beach County.
Stamp Out Hunger also sustains area soup kitchens and food pantries during decreasing summer donations. Many nonprofit organizations experience bare shelves during the summer, a crucial time due to the lack of school meal programs for the 63,660 children who are food insecure in Palm Beach County.
Residents can also help on May 14 by volunteering to sort food collected by the letter carriers. Volunteers are needed for afternoon and evening shifts, and must be at least 16 years of age. To volunteer with Feeding Palm Beach County, contact Charlotte VanDyken at volunteers@dev.feedingsouthflorida.org or 954.518.1824.
“Stamp Out Hunger provides Palm Beach County residents with a very easy and inexpensive way to alleviate hunger,” said Feeding South Florida president and CEO Paco Vélez. “We are hoping to top 2015’s food donations to meet the increasing needs of those who are food insecure in Palm Beach County.”
“Six and even seven days a week, letter carriers see first-hand the needs in the communities where we work,” NALC President Frederic Rolando said, “and we’re committed to helping meet those needs.”
For more information about the annual Stamp Out Hunger effort, ask your letter carrier, contact your local post office, visit either www.nalc.org or www.facebook.com/StampOutHunger, or follow the drive at www.twitter.com/StampOutHunger.
About The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)
The NALC represents letter carriers across the country. Its 280,000 members make it the largest of the four unions representing employees of the United States Postal Service. Founded by Civil War veterans in 1889, the NALC is among the country’s oldest labor unions. For more information, visit https://www.nalc.org/.
