It’s the largest one-day food drive in the nation. That’s according to Second Harvest Food Bank Director Chad Higdon, who joined other local sponsors Tuesday to announce Saturday’s Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
The 23rd annual Stamp Out Hunger campaign is sponsored by USPS mail carriers across the nation, delivering thousands of pounds of food to local food banks and pantries.
Locally, mail carriers from the National Association of Letter Carriers No. 195 will collect the donations Saturday. President Dustin Hassler said it makes sense that mail carriers would be involved in the fight against hunger.
“We are in the community every day. Every home, every city in American has a letter carrier coming to their house,” Mr. Hassler said. “So we see the plight on a daily basis on how hunger is affecting America.”
Yellow bags sponsored by Second Harvest, Hy-Vee, Kansas City Power & Light and Feeding Missouri were put in mailboxes last weekend with the hopes they will be filled with the items specified, and left by the mailboxes Saturday for the mail carriers to pick up.
Some 95,000 sacks were delivered to homes in the 19 counties that the Food Bank services in Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas.
All donations will stay at each local food bank in those counties.
Last year, the event generated more than 30,000 pounds of food. The sacks were sponsored by Hy-Vee, KCP&L, Feeding Missouri and Second Harvest.
