On Saturday, May 11, the National Association of Letter Carriers will join forces with Feeding America to Stamp Out Hunger in the United States. This annual food drive, now in its 21 st year, began as a regional effort and now is a nationwide event that provides assistance to millions of Americans struggling to put food on This year marks the 19th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive in South Georgia. Letter carriers partner with Second Harvest of South Georgia to collect donations from postal customers across the area.
Last year’s event resulted in more than 200,000 pounds of food collected for those in need across our area. The need for food assistance continues to exist in every community in America, no matter how rich or poor, as 1 in 6 Americans face the threat of hunger. It is a major issue in South Georgia; 98% of the area Second Harvest serve has higher poverty levels than both the state and national averages with 1 in 5 South Georgians living with food insecurity, the broadly-used term defined by the USDA as “consistent access to adequate food limited by lack of money or other resources at times during the year”.
Perhaps most alarming is that in South Georgia 1 in 4 children struggle with hunger daily. That’s 60,000 kids in our community who may go hungry tonight. Food bank shelves filled up through holiday generosity often are bare by late spring. And with summer break right around the corner, many families who are already barely making ends meet must now pay for not only childcare while they work but also meals which are usually provided through the free/reduced lunch program.
To participate in the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive, area citizens should look for donation bags in the mailbox this week, collect and bag non-perishable, unopened food items, and place them by the mailbox for a letter carrier to deliver to Second Harvest!
On the day of the event, Second Harvest would like to remind citizens that volunteers will be assisting in the effort to collect all the food. Because so much food is collected, it’s not possible to do it without these valuable volunteers. The volunteers will be wearing yellow or green Stamp Out Hunger food drive t-shirts or will be able to provide documentation to that effect. Please do NOT call 911 or your local law enforcement to report them.
To volunteer, call 229-244-2678 x 207 or email volunteer@feedingsga.org to register.
