Letter carriers and hunger have one thing in common: neither is impacted by the season. With 1 in 9 Utah children facing the pain and stress of hunger — and 289,000 Utahns at risk of missing a meal today – the statewide Stamp Out Hunger® food drive is as critical as ever. Our partner agencies are reporting an increase in pantry visitors since the beginning of this year, likely due to the expiration of additional SNAP benefits that were in place during the pandemic.
This food drive is a national effort on Saturday, May 13th. It provides Utah residents an easy way to donate to food-insecure friends and neighbors who are being pushed to the limit by rising food, gas, and housing costs. Participation is easy; leave your bag next to your mailbox before 9:00 a.m.
Now in its 31st year, the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive helps stock the shelves of emergency food pantries statewide at a crucial time of increased demand as school gets out and many children lack access to school meal programs, putting additional strain on already tight budgets.
Letter carriers will dispatch on Saturday to collect bags of food donations left on people’s doorsteps statewide. Those donations are then brought to their post office, where Utah Food Book staff and volunteers will be stationed to help receive donations.
Participation is Easy!
Look for a blue reminder bag in your mailbox this week. Fill the bag or box with non-perishable food items. Our most critical needs currently are canned meats, peanut butter, boxed meals, and canned fruits and vegetables—no glass items, please.
Place your food donation next to your mailbox for pick up on Saturday, May 13th, by 9:00 a.m. by your local letter carrier. Collected bags will then be delivered to Utah Food Bank and its statewide network of 230 partner food pantries statewide. All donations will be distributed to food pantries in your local area.
You can also take your food to Utah Food Bank’s warehouses, Harmons, or if your food is not picked up, place it back outside your door on the Monday following the event.
If you prefer to support the effort financially, visit utahfoodbank.org for further information. We can stretch each $1 donated into $9.04 worth of goods and services for Utahns facing hunger, so every donation makes a difference!
We are still in need of volunteers! We need help at various post offices across the Salt Lake Valley to unload & pre-sort food. Volunteers must be at least 12 years old and capable of moderate lifting. For more details and to sign-up contact: [email protected].
The annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger food drive is sponsored nationally by the National Association of Letter Carriers in conjunction with the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association and the United States Postal Service. In Utah and nationwide, this food drive has resulted in millions of meals for people facing hunger.