This Saturday May 10 marks the 32nd anniversary of the largest one-day food drive in the nation – the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive.

Letter carriers are in the communities they serve every day and often come face to face with a sad reality for too many: hunger. Each year on the second Saturday in May, letter carriers across the county collect non-perishable food donations from our customers.

Over the course of its 32-year history, the drive has collected well over 1.9 billion pounds of food, thanks to a postal service’s universal delivery network that spans the entire nation, including Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The donations in Los Alamos and White Rock go directly to local food pantries to provided needed food to people in Northern New Mexico who need our help.

The need is great, but you can help. More than 47 million Americans are unsure where their next meal will come from. More than 13 million are children who feel hunger’s impact on their overall health and ability to perform in school. Nearly 5.5 million seniors over age 60 are food insecure, with many who live on fixed incomes often too embarrassed to ask for help.

Our food drive’s timing is crucial. Food banks and pantries often receive the majority of their donations during the winter holiday seasons. By springtime, many pantries are depleted, entering the summer low on supplies at a time when many school breakfast and lunch programs are not available to children in need.

Participating in this year’s Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive is simple. Just leave non-perishable food donations in a bag by your mailbox Saturday, May 10, and your letter carrier will do the rest or you can take it to the First United Methodist Church at 715 Diamond Drive in Los Alamos.

With your help, letter carriers and the US Postal Service anticipate they will surpass over 2 billion total pounds of food collected in the United States in its proud history over the 32 years as a national food drive.

Please help us in our fight to Stamp Out Hunger.

If you have any questions or would like to volunteer your help, contact me at 505.412.3216.