Pickup! Mail Carriers to Collect Food on Saturday

They call it the nation's largest one-day food drive in the nation.

Saturday, United States Postal Service letter carriers that come to our homes and apartments to deliver the mail would like something back from us. A donation of food.

Carriers will pick up non-perishable food donations from us during their normal rounds. You're simply asked to leave those donations near your mailbox. All food that in contributed to the project will go to local charitable organizations to feed those a little less fortunate.

This is the 20th year for the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Food Drive — called the largest one-day food drive in the nation. Every year, their effort is to "stamp out hunger."

The Postal Service says hunger and malnutrition in America are much more serious problems than most people realize, and that's why the drive is so important. The USPS notes that a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture study measuring food security in the United States showed the number of Americans living in food deficient homes is more than 50 million. The study claims that approximately one in every three Americans in need of food help is a child.

Last year, the Postal Service says that letter carriers collected over 70 million pounds of food, and has collected over one billion pounds during the past two decades.

Other sponsors of the food drive this year include the Campbell Soup Company, Feeding America, Valpak, AFL-CIO, Uncle Bob’s Self Storage, AARP and United Way of America.

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