Help Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger on May 12

Mark your calendar down for May 12, a day on which you can put place a few cans or packages of nonperishable foods out at your mail slot and give a big boost to local food banks. Easy move. Huge benefit.

Let's make it a powerlifting day for our letter carriers, who are more than willing to do the grunt work.

The effort is the annual nationwide Stamp Out Hunger event that amounts to the largest single-day food drive of the year, according to Paul Ash, executive director of the .

“We expect to bring in about 135,000 pounds of food in Marin," he said, "and that’s going to feed a lot of hungry people across the county.”

To participate, residents are asked to place a sturdy bag of non-perishable food by their mailbox before their mail is delivered May 12. Recommended food items include peanut butter, pasta, rice, low-sugar cereal, and canned foods such as tuna, meat, soups, beans and vegetables. Letter carriers will collect the bags of food and deliver them to the Marin Food Bank in Bel Marin Keys to be distributed to people in need throughout the community.

The number of low-income people at risk of hunger in Marin County has increased dramatically during the recession over the last few years, doubling from 9 percent in 2007 to 18.5 percent in 2009. This year, the San Francisco and Marin Food Banks will distribute more than five million pounds of food to at least 20,000 individuals throughout Marin.

“There are thousands of children, seniors and adults in Marin who regularly face days without enough nutritious food to sustain them,” Ash said. “The Stamp Out Hunger food drive is critical in helping the food bank meet the needs of Marin’s low-income residents, especially during the summer months when many kids lose the benefit of school lunch programs.

"We really appreciate the work of the letter carriers and everyone that donates — they’re truly making a difference.”

Now in its 20th year, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive takes place across the nation and is the largest single-day effort to combat hunger in America.

The San Francisco and Marin Food Banks will serve more than 225,000 people this year, distributing over 45 million pounds of food — enough for at least 100,000 meals every day — through community agencies and neighborhood pantries. More than half of what is distributed is fresh fruits and vegetables that come direct from the farm. For more information, visit www.MarinFoodBank.org.

The National Association of Letter Carriers is the union of city delivery letter carriers working for the United States Postal Service founded in 1889. Today, the NALC maintains its tradition as a union of more than 300,000 members in all 50 states and other U.S. jurisdictions. For more information, visit http://stampouthunger.info/pages/media.html.