It’s that time again – there are only ten days remaining until the 18th annual national “Stamp Out Hunger” campaign. On Saturday, May 8, local members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will pick up donations from households throughout West Michigan.
If you want a reminder before the big day, you can text STAMP6 to 30305 or sign up for an email reminder .
This is what your postal worker will pick up when you leave it by your mailbox: unbreakable, unopened, non-perishable, un-expired food (such as canned foods, pasta, rice and cereal) packed in sturdy bags.
But here’s the most important part: you should only choose those cans, bags, and boxes from among the items that are already in your cupboard.
Why?
Besides sparing your letter carrier’s knees and back, sending a check* is honestly a whole lot more effective.
It’s time effective (volunteers spend less time sorting the hodgepodge of items and double checking that they meet our requirements) and it’s cost effective: we use donated dollars to cover the freight for truckloads of product donated by the food industry.
Since $1 will cover shipping for 33 pounds of food, that’s like providing one meal for an entire elementary school classroom!
And you benefit, too. We don’t issue receipts to individuals for food donations, but when you write us a check or donate online, you can write it off on your Federal tax return and you become eligible for the 50% Michigan Food Bank Tax Credit.
When we all use our resources as optimally as possible, we make adequately addressing West Michigan’s hunger problem possible by making it affordable.
*For those of you in our service area, please note checks for the letter carriers to pick up should still be made out to Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank. If you’re from somewhere else, use the widget below: