Stamp Out Hunger bags are being distributed today, encouraging Kanawha Valley residents to donate to the largest one-day food collection event in America.
Residents wishing to participate should fill the bags with non-perishable items such as canned goods, pasta, rice, beans and infant formula and leave them by their mailboxes Saturday, May 14. Cathy Jones, a local mail carrier and the area food drive coordinator, said that U.S. Postal Service mail carriers will collect the bags and the process of distribution to local banks and pantries will begin shortly after.
Jones said that mail carriers have joined the fight because they see families suffering from hunger every day.
"We know that in every area there are people who are hungry," Jones said. "We're at every address every day and we see that families are hurting."
The National Association of Letter Carriers have, in the past, strategically scheduled the Stamp Out Hunger food drive for the second weekend of May. The idea is to offer a source of food for families with children who will no longer have access to their school's free or reduced lunch services during the summer months, Jones said.
"Children and families that depend on the food from school lunch programs, that's not there," Jones said. "It's a big plus if you have young children at home and you don't have food, you can go to the pantry."
Entities such as United Food Organization and the United Mine Workers of America have partnered with the Letter Carriers, along with local unions and firefighters, to assist in the fight against hunger. Additionally, Jones said that the National Guard will be supplying trucks to receive the donated goods and deliver them to UFO, a service she recalls them providing for the 21 years she has volunteered for the drive.
The United Food Operation, a nonprofit in Nitro, will distribute the donated food to 12 local food pantries including Covenant House, Heart and Hand, EnAct and The Salvation Army. UFO Chairwoman Elaine Harris said that Stamp Out Hunger donations are instrumental in reviving food pantries after the harsh winter months.
"We had bad weather this winter and people certainly made decisions about paying utilities or buying food," Harris said. "Now we're into the spring and the summer months and those food banks and pantries really get hit hard. This is just another boost for them."
This year, donation bags have been provided by the United Mine Workers of America for the second year in a row. The bags, emblazoned with the Stamp Out Hunger and UMWA logos, as well as the logos of other sponsoring organizations, are what Jones attributes the rise in food donations to; donations were up last year to 122,000 pounds in comparison to the 51,000 pounds collected in 2014. Prior to 2015, residents were asked to furnish their own bags.
"The reason for the increase was the bags," she said. "Last year was the first year that we had bags provided to us."
Stamp Out Hunger is a nationwide food drive operated by the National Association of Letter Carriers. In the past, the Stamp Out Hunger food drive has been a successful endeavor for all involved, rightfully earning it the title of "the largest one day food collection in America." Just last year, residents across the nation donated approximately 71 million pounds of non-perishable foods.
Jones said the increasing success of the food drive is rooted in people's willingness to help their local communities along with the trust that they have in their mail carriers.
"They trust us and they know that the food's going to go where we say it's going," she said.
If residents are unable or forget to place their bags by their mailboxes on Saturday, Jones said that mail carriers will gladly collect them the following Monday.
Reach Jared Casto at jared.casto@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4832 or follow @JaredCasto on Twitter.