Politics & Government

Stamp Out Hunger This Saturday

Pack mailboxes with nonperishable foods for the annual postal carrier food drive.

Los Gatos mail carriers will join others across the county, state and nation to help feed less-fortunate families during their annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive Saturday.

Last year, the event collected 391,000 pounds of non-perishable food in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, enough for 300,000 meals, said Caitlin Kerk with Second Harvest Food Bank, about the largest single-day food drive in the Bay Area and nationwide.

Across the country, the drive distributed a record 77.1 million pounds of donations to food banks, pushing the 18-year total to more than 1 billion pounds of food, according to the National Association of Letter Carriers.

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Look for your friendly mail carriers collecting non-perishable food items while they work their route around town and in the mountains, said Cathy Williams, supervisor with the Los Gatos U.S. Post Office at 101 So. Santa Cruz Ave.

About 16 letter carriers in Los Gatos and nine more in the Los Gatos mountains will collect the food items, Williams said, adding that the donations will then be taken to Second Harvest Food Bank.

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Residents interested in participating can fill up any sturdy bag with items such as canned soup, canned vegetables, canned fish or meats, pasta, rice or cereal and leave it next to the mailbox prior to regular mail delivery time on Saturday.

“The need continues to grow as 50 million—including 17 million children—live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger in America,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe. “Research shows that preschool and school-aged children who experience severe hunger have higher levels of chronic illness, anxiety and depression and behavior problems than children with no hunger.

“With the commitment and dedication of thousands of letter carriers, rural letter carriers, and postal and community volunteers, plus the involvement of our corporate partners, we will continue making a difference in helping to feed America’s hungry,” said Donahoe.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual study measuring food security in the United States, the number of Americans living in home without adequate food surpassed 50 million in 2009 (the most recent year that such data is available). Perhaps most alarming is that approximately one-third of those at risk of hunger are children (17.2 million).

For more information about the Stamp Out Hunger food drive, ask a letter carrier, contact a local post office, or visit helpstampouthunger.com, facebook.com/StampOutHunger, or twitter.com/StampOutHunger.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.


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