Postal Carriers Enlist Public Support to Stamp Out Hunger

Online, May 4, 2010 (Newswire.com) - On Saturday, May 8, people from across the country will partner with their letter carriers to help "Stamp Out Hunger." Now in its 18th year, the Stamp Out Hunger! letter carriers food drive is the largest, single-day effort to combat hunger in America and the largest single day food drive for the San Francisco Food Bank

To participate, residents are asked to place a bag of non-perishable canned food items, like tuna, meats, peanut butter, stews, soup, vegetables, pasta, rice or cereal, by their mailbox before their mail is delivered on Saturday, May 8. Letter carriers will collect the canned food items and deliver them back to the San Francisco Food Bank to be distributed to the community to help those at risk of hunger.

Last year, in San Francisco, the Stamp Out Hunger! letter carriers food drive raised 65,000 pounds of food for those in need in San Francisco. Nationally, letter carriers across the country collected a record total of more than 73.4 million pounds of food. Since its inception in 1983, the largest single-day food drive in the nation has stocked 982.7 million pounds of non-perishable items on food bank shelves across the country and is expected to surpass the 1 billion pound milestone on May 8. One billion pounds of food would feed each California resident three meals a day for a week.

With hunger impacting 37 million people, one in eight Americans - including 14 million children and nearly 3 million seniors; help is needed now more than ever before. In San Francisco, more than 150,000 people live at or below 150 percent of the Federal Poverty line, experiencing very low food security - or hunger. "Hunger in our community continues to be a growing problem, but it's a problem that we can do something about. By supporting the Stamp Out Hunger letter carriers food drive this Saturday May 8, we can get food to those that need it the most." said Paul Ash, Executive Director of the San Francisco Food Bank.

Members of the media are encouraged to visit the San Francisco Food Bank warehouse at 900 Pennsylvania Avenue in San Francisco on Saturday, May 8 from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. to see the donations arrive from the Stamp Out Hunger! letter carriers food drive and to meet with San Francisco Food Bank employees, postal carriers, and volunteers.