Largest one-day food drive in the world this Saturday!
Coos Bay, Ore.— Help stamp out hunger on the South Coast this May! It’s easy. Simply place a bag of nonperishable food donations by your mailbox on the morning of Saturday, May 12, for the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Food Drive, the largest one-day food drive in the world!
This is the one-day of the year that all Americans have the opportunity – with the help of letter carriers – to easily donate food to help keep families in our community fed. Simply look for a yellow plastic food drive bag in your mail (or provide your own), fill it with nutritious, nonperishable food, and place it by your mailbox early on Saturday, May 12. If you miss your carrier’s daily visit, donations can be dropped off at any post office by Wednesday, May 16.
The “Stamp Out Hunger” effort, the largest single-day food drive in the world, has collected more than one billion pounds of food nationally since its inception in 1993. In Oregon, more than 4,000 letter carriers in urban and rural areas will join the national effort to pick up food from postal customers.
All donated food stays in the community where it was collected. In Coos County, post offices in Coos Bay, North Bend, Coquille, Myrtle Point, Powers and Bandon have paired up with agencies in the South Coast Food Share Network to get food out to those who need it.
“The National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive is such a unique opportunity to support our community,” says Patricia Gouveia, Director of Essential Services at Oregon Coast Community Action. “This is traditionally a time of low food donations after the winter holidays and the cupboard starts getting a little bare so this is a critical time for food donations. Every little bit helps, so we encourage the everyone on the South Coast to make sure no one goes hungry.”
Last year, the communities of the South Coast donated over 20,000 pounds of food, and this year food drive organizers are hoping to exceed that!
The NALC food drive is made possible by local letter carriers, the U.S. Postal Service, Wells Fargo, Oregon Food Bank, and many Oregon unions and community organizations. Wells Fargo’s support helped fund the degradable bags and more than 600 Wells Fargo employees will volunteer for this event at more than 40 locations throughout the state.
South Coast Food Share is a program of Oregon Coast Community Action, a non-profit network of programs that help feed, house, warm and educate the communities of the South Coast, and help families thrive. For more information, please call (541) 888-7024 or learn more at www.orcca.us.
###
