Grand Rapids, Michigan — April 14, 2015 — On Saturday, May 9, Grand Rapids will take part in the 23rd-annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, coordinated by the National Association of Letter Carriers. All food collected in Grand Rapids will be donated to Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank.
“The Letter Carriers are one of our oldest partners in hunger relief,” said Feeding America West Michigan CEO Ken Estelle. “Year after year, they give their time and money to organize this enormous effort — our biggest food drive of the year. The food we collect on this one day will reach thousands of people.”
Giving to Stamp Out Hunger is simple — anyone with a postal address can participate. Those who want to give should fill a bag with good, nonperishable food and set it by their mailbox prior to their regular delivery time on May 9. The Letter Carriers will do the rest.
“Six days a week, letter carriers see first-hand the needs in the communities where we work, and we’re committed to helping meet those needs,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said of the effort.
Last year, Grand Rapids collectively gave nearly 94,000 pounds of food during Stamp Out Hunger, enough to provide 73,500 meals to people in West Michigan. To date, Stamp Out Hunger has collected over 1 billion pounds of food for hunger-relief organizations around the country.
Hunger threatens 1 in 7 people in West Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Among kids, the rate is 1 in 5. Feeding America West Michigan just wrapped up a record year, with 26.5 million pounds of food distributed in 2014.
“The need for food hasn’t decreased in our community,” Estelle said. “We’re asking everyone to give what they can and help us Stamp Out Hunger this year.”
About the Organizations
Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank. Serving local families in need since 1981, Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank reclaims safe surplus food from farmers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers. We distribute that food through a network of more than 1,100 food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters in 40 counties from the Indiana border through the Upper Peninsula. Each year, an estimated 492,100 people receive food from Feeding America West Michigan. For more information, visit feedwm.org.
National Association of Letter Carriers. Founded in 1889, NALC is the union of city letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service, delivering mail, six days a week, to more than 150 million homes and businesses in every city, suburb and town in America. For more information, visit NALC.org.